Ethnic inequalities in later life

Existing research shows that people from ethnic minorities experience poorer health and well-being across the course of their lives. These inequalities are significantly more pronounced among older people, but it is not known how these later-life inequalities have changed over time or why they exist. This project will provide new, much-needed information on ethnic inequalities in mental and physical health, well-being, and socio-economic circumstances among people aged over 45.

The project will involve using innovative methods to analyse existing census and survey data across three stages. The first stage will document the existence and persistence of inequalities among older people, and will create life expectancy and healthy life expectancy estimates by ethnic group, gender, and generation. The second stage of the research will focus on identifying the underlying causes of these inequalities. The final stage will explore how and why ethnic inequalities among older people have changed across cohorts and generations.

As the proportion of older ethnic minority people is growing rapidly in the UK and will have an increasing influence on health and social welfare policies and provision, it is vital to gain a precise understanding of inequalities in health, well-being, and social circumstances. The findings from this research will inform policy makers and social care providers in their efforts to improve healthy ageing.

Update (May 2022)

The Ethnic inequalities in later life project has been extended until November 2023 to allow for the inclusion of data on life expectancy by ethnicity released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in August 2021. Chris White and Rose Drummond from the ONS will work alongside the research team on the next phase of the project, which aims to improve current estimates of ethnic differences in mortality rates, life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy.

The research team also aims to address potential methodological limitations of published estimates, including incorrect estimations of life expectancy for minoritised ethnic groups; excluding mortality rates of emigrants; age standardising the analysis to a European reference population; and combining all White groups as the reference category.