Income inequality and the growing gap between the rich and poor are a health hazard. A startling presentation by Kate Pickett, a professor of Epidemiology at the University of York and a National Institute for Health Research Career Scientist, shows how bad the health and social problems can be.
According to her research, life expectancy when linked to national income per person is highest in Japan. The US is close to the bottom, Australia is somewhere around the middle. Health and social problems are in no way connected to average income in countries. Average income is highest in the United States. On the other hand, Pickett's research shows that the US has the worst health and social problems in such areas as math and literacy, infant mortality, homicides, imprisonment, teenage births, lack of trust, obesity, mental illness including drug and alcohol addiction, and social mobility. Britain comes in as the third worse while New Zealand and Australia come in at four and five.
Child well being and levels of trust are better in more equal wealthy societies like Sweden and Finland. Again, the richest country in the world is near the bottom. The US, Britain and Australia have the highest rate of mental illness.
The big question is whether the global financial crisis has exacerbated the problem. Certainly the gap between the haves and have nots has increased. If Pickett's research is right, it would suggest the recession has sown the seeds of enormous social problems. That will have an impact in such areas as policing, corrections and health care. Governments will have to spend more. In summary, taxpayers foot the bill for the gap between rich and poor.
no comment untill now