Ethnic inequalities in health in later life, 1993-2017: the persistence of health disadvantage over more than two decades

Ethnic inequalities in health and wellbeing across the early and mid-life course have been well documented in the United Kingdom. What is less known, is the prevalence and persistence of ethnic inequalities in health in later life. There is a large empirical gap focussing on older ethnic minority people in ethnicity and ageing research. In this paper, we take a novel approach to address data limitations by harmonising six nationally-representative social survey datasets that span more than two decades. We investigate ethnic inequalities in health in later life, and we examine the effects of socio-economic position and racial discrimination in explaining health inequalities. The central finding is the persistence of stark and significant ethnic inequalities in limiting long-term illness and self-rated health between 1993 and 2017. These inequalities tend to be greater in older ages, and are partially explained by contemporaneous measures of socio-economic position and racism and discrimination. Future data collection endeavours must better represent older ethnic minority populations and enable more detailed analyses of the accumulation of socio-economic disadvantage and exposure to racism over the life course, and its effects on poorer health outcomes in later life.