Good health is the keystone of a prosperous and just country

Healthy people, prosperous lives: The first interim report of the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity.

The UK is getting poorer and sicker, at the same time as the country is facing a challenging economic outlook. After rapid progress on life expectancy in the 20th century, the UK has rising rates of death and impairment – including higher prevalence of long-term conditions and greater rates of multimorbidity.

Good health has its own value – but this paper tests its relationship with prosperity. Good health is vital to an enjoyable and meaningful life, free from avoidable pain, anxiety and, in the worst cases, premature death. But it is also a crucial determinant of our economic prospects, both at an individual and a national level.

This has been poorly accounted for by policymakers. In that context, a new report from the IPPR sets out to quantify whether better health could provide an answer to some of our most deep-rooted economic challenges and what policies could help ‘price in’ its value across all decisionmaking.