Health Inequalities in London

Health inequalities are unfair, systematic and completely avoidable differences in health between groups of people. 

In London, health inequalities mean that while some people in our city enjoy the highest standards of living, for many others it’s a different story. And they’re not just caused by the quality of care someone receives, their life choices or the existence of an underlying condition. Many Londoners suffer ill health because they lack the social, economic and environmental conditions to lead healthy lives. 

This is simply not right.  

Health inequalities cause many people to live many years of their life in poor health.

Right now, in London, people are living with preventable disease and disability, and sometimes dying far earlier than they should.  This is because they don’t have the things they need for good health, such as access to green spaces and clean air, a decent living wage, an environment that promotes healthy eating, or the resources to support good mental health and wellbeing.

When we fail to keep people healthy, demand for health and care services grows and the care Londoners need can become more complex and persistent.

Good health enables Londoners to take advantage of all the opportunities our city has to offer. It also underpins our city’s prosperity and growth. That’s why the Mayor and his partners are working hard to address these inequalities.

The Mayor has been working with partners like the NHS in London, the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), London’s boroughs and many others, to help close the unfair gap between London’s healthiest and unhealthiest.

In 2018 the Mayor launched London’s Health Inequalities Strategy (2018-28), outlining how he and his partners would work to tackle health inequalities, fulfilling his vision that no one’s health should suffer because of who they are or where they live.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, exposing, widening and exacerbated existing health inequalities in our city. It meant new priorities and ways of working to tackle the causes ill health in our city – one that, for example, required greater community engagement. This led the Mayor and his partners to refresh their approach and commitment, and the result is outlined in the Health Inequalities Strategy implementation plan 2021-24. 

In 2023 year we published a report tracking the significant progress made against the implementation plan. Read it here. 

It’s clear that we are now operating in a different context to three years ago, but one thing remains true: the circumstances in which we are born, grow, work and age are fundamental to health.

That’s why the Mayor and his partners continue to take bold steps to ensure all of his policies and work improve Londoners’ health.

Click through the pages below to read about the progress made against the six key commitments of the Health Inequalities Strategy.