Health Poverty Index

The Health Poverty Index (HPI), released in late 2004, has been produced by the Social Disadvantage Research Centre (SDRC), University of Oxford, the South East Public Health Observatory (SEPHO) and the Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of St Andrews, which is sponsored by the Department of Health. The HPI tool aims to provide an overall picture of health poverty in an area, and incorporates a range of measures relating to both ‘root causes’ and ‘intervening factors’ that influence health and health inequalities.

The HPI tool allows groups, differentiated by geography, social or economic position and cultural identity, to be contrasted in terms of their 'health poverty’. A group's 'health poverty' is a combination of both its present state of health and its future health potential or lack of it. The key justification for the selection of a particular set of groups is the expectation of an equal distribution of health and its determinants between the groups from the perspective of social justice.

YHPHO HPI Briefing

YHPHO HPI Briefing provides a summary of the Health Poverty Index for the Yorkshire and Humber Region.

HPI website

Health Poverty Index (HPI) 2008 visualisation tool