The health costs of poverty in Canada : Measuring sustainable development, application of the Genuine Progress Index to Nova Scotia

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders— the Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection, the British Columbia Ministry of Health, and the Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada. [...] GENUINE PROGRESS INDEX x. Measuring Sustainable Development EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose of the literature review Poverty creates tremendous suffering in society, is costly to society in general, and negatively affects the physical and mental health of the population as well as many other aspects of wellbeing. [...] This is the case since living under conditions of material and social deprivation limits participation in a wide range of cultural, economic, educational, political and other societal activities normally expected of individuals, families, and communities.2 Socioeconomic status is a key determinant of health in population health models. [...] For adults between the ages 18 and 64, the rate was 11.4%, but the rate for unattached individuals was 30.4%.6 When the poverty rate is based on before-tax income, 16.8%, or 1.13 million Canadian children were living in poverty in 2005.7 As stated, in 2005, 11.7% of children in Canada—or 788,000 children— were living in poverty, down from the rates of the mid-1990s, but unchanged from the 1989 chi [...] According to David Hay of the Canadian Policy Research Networks, economic arguments in support of action on the social determinants of health, which recognize the interdependence of economic and 5 Case, Anne, Angela Fertig, and Christina Paxson.