Context
It’s important to note that the health and wellbeing impacts of economic development are context-dependent and vary across regions and communities. Factors like socioeconomic conditions, governance, policy implementation, and community engagement can influence these outcomes. Additionally, the magnitude and balance of positive and negative impacts can vary across different development projects and policies.
Key Actions
Careful planning, effective regulation, and inclusive policies and implementation strategies that prioritise both economic growth and public health.
Community and key stakeholder engagement in economic development projects, plans, and policies.
Conducting comprehensive health impact assessments and ensuring equitable distribution of benefits can help mitigate the negative consequences and enhance the positive impacts of economic development initiatives.
Positive Impacts
Employment opportunities
Economic development initiatives often create higher quality and more diverse job opportunities, leading to increased income, financial stability, and improved overall wellbeing.
Enhanced incomes at all levels
Economic development projects can lead to an increase in incomes in jobs at all levels, bene in lower quality jobs, as the wider range of opportunities increases the value of workers, reducing poverty and improving overall physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Improved Infrastructure and living condition
Economic development often leads to improved transportation networks, better housing, access to clean water and sanitation facilities, reliable electricity, improved health, social care and educational institutions, all of which contribute to better health outcomes.
Negative Impacts
Environmental degradation
Some economic development projects, like large-scale industrial activities, may have negative consequences for the environment, leading to air and water pollution, deforestation, or depletion of natural resources. This can have adverse effects on health, including respiratory issues and increased risk of certain diseases, as well as climate change-related impacts.
Occupational health risks
Industrialisation and urbanisation associated with economic development can introduce new occupational health risks, including exposure to hazardous substances, unsafe working conditions and lack of adequate safety regulations or their enforcement.
Socioeconomic inequalities and inequity
Economic development projects may exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities. Some individuals or communities, especially marginalised ones, may not benefit proportionately from the growth, resulting in inequities in health outcomes and access to key services.
Changes in lifestyle and health behaviours
Rapid economic development can bring about shifts in lifestyle, including consumption patterns and dietary habits. These changes may lead to the adoption of unhealthy behaviours, such as increased consumption of processed foods, sedentary lifestyles, and higher levels of stress, thereby negatively impacting health and wellbeing.
Displacement and social disruption
Certain economic development projects, can result in forced displacement, loss of livelihoods and social networks, and social disruption, leading to negative impacts on physical health, mental health, wellbeing and social cohesion.
Sources of Further Information
Health Foundation (2020) Using economic development to improve health and reduce health inequalities. Available at: https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/using-economic-development-to-improve-health-and-reduce-health-inequalities (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Inclusive economies are likely to improve population health and wellbeing. Inclusive economies support social cohesion, equity and participation; environmental sustainability; and promote access to goods and services which support health, while restricting access to those that do not,.
Key actions
Economic development should help everyone.
Measure economic success in different ways.
Deal proactively with societal changes (social, cultural technological or environmental).
Create good quality jobs for everyone.
Key to dos
Understand local issues
Know what the key problems are in communities. For example, Scotland used a special tool to understand how to make sure everyone benefits from economic growth.
Develop long-term plans for the economy
Have a vision that designs the economy to be good for people's health. Plymouth City Council made plans to help their city grow and be healthy for everyone.
Listen to people
Involve the community and listen to their ideas to decide what's important and should be actioned. The Clyde Gateway program in Glasgow asked people for their thoughts and worked together to make their area better.
Asset based economic development
Make the most of what communities have in terms of skills and experiences. In Leeds, they used their medical technology expertise to create new jobs and help the economy.
Connect health and economy
Health and the economic sectors should work together to make both a healthy population and a strong economy. In Scotland, the government worked on both health and economic development together.
Combining health and economic support
Create services that help communities with both health issues and money problems. In Finland, they created special centres where young people can go for help with their health and future job options.
Lange, S. and Vollmer, S. (2017) ‘The effect of economic development on population health: a review of the empirical evidence’, British Medical Bulletin, 121(1), pp. 47–60. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldw052
Economic growth can help improve people's health, but it's not guaranteed. We need to make sure the money is distributed fairly and used in the best way to make the whole community healthier. That's where public health comes in, it can make sure we are using the extra money in a way that helps everyone the most.
When the economy grows, it can give poor families more money to spend on things like healthcare and food, which can make them healthier. It can also help governments improve the healthcare system and build things like hospitals. the relationship between economic growth and health spending can be different in different places. In some countries, spending more money on healthcare is important at a certain point of economic growth. But in other countries, it might not make a big difference. It all depends on how the money is used and the systems in place to make sure it helps people.
There are a lot of things that have to happen for economic growth to actually make people healthier. The money has to reach the poor families, and they have to decide to use it in a way that helps their health. The government also has to be good at collecting taxes and making good decisions about how to spend the money on things that make people healthier.
Sometimes, things can go wrong along the way. Economic growth might not reach the poor families, or the government might not use the money in the right way. That's why sometimes, economic growth doesn't end up making people healthier.