Social protection essential to reducing health gap, new survey finds

Fresh evidence has emerged that strong social protection is key to reducing health inequalities and improving overall levels of well-being.

Differences in health and living standards are the main drivers of poor life satisfaction, according to a new report on subjective well-being in the EU.

In the EU15 (15 EU Member States prior to enlargement in 2004), levels of satisfaction are significantly lower among people with poor levels of self-rated health.

“People who rate their health as ‘very good’ have an average satisfaction level that is 2.1 points higher on a 10-point scale than those who rate their health as ‘bad’,” says the report from the the European Foundation for Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

The findings come ahead of an EU joint report on social protection and social inclusion, and underline the importance of strong social support systems.

“Social support is important in its own right, but is also significant in buffering the impact on life satisfaction of material disadvantage and health problems,” says Eurofound.

The need for governments to safeguard social security is also one of the main recommendations of a WHO report on the social and economic determinants of health.

“Generous universal social protection systems are associated with better population health, including lower excess mortality among the old and lower mortality levels among socially disadvantaged groups,” the WHO says.

The results also shows how better social protection can be a means of reducing differences in well-being between countries.

Social support for people with disabilities, for example, is stronger in some countries than others, and has an impact on individual satisfaction.

“[P]eople with a severe disability in the Nordic countries remain more satisfied with life than those with a severe disability in most other countries,” the report says.

The survey involved interviews with 1,000 respondents across Europe aged 18 years and over, and was targeted in nationally representative samples.

You can download the full Eurofound survey from the Eurofound website.

More information about the upcoming EU joint report on social protection and social inclusion can be found here.

The WHO report on the social determinants of health is available here.

[Image: Euofound]