Life circumstances: overview

The circumstances in which people live impact directly on their health, both mental and physical. Its importance as a determinant of health has long been acknowledged, and is reflected in Government white papers such as the 1999 paper Towards A Healthier Scotland.

This part of the web site tries to reflect some of the more influential aspects of life circumstances, with a range of important, and often overlapping, topics. These include: the physical environment (and the related concept of environmental justice); income and economy; deprivation; the social environment (with associated topics such as education and crime); and community well-being (another topic which overlaps with much of the above).