Europe UK (Commonwealth Union) – London is ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the world, where it is home to many billionaires as well as wealth investors. However, London also has widespread poverty.
A new Marmot review (a review focusing on the social and economic cost of health inequalities) exploring the cost-of-living crisis in London launched was in January, revealing the actions required promptly to support the health of Londoners, where more than 50% of whom are presently ‘financially struggling’ or ‘barely managing.
‘The Rising Cost of Living: A Review of Interventions to Reduce Impacts on Health Inequalities in London’, that was published by the UCL Institute of Health Equity, gives details on how the cost-of-living crisis is having a negative impact on the same groups who were previously impacted by a decade of austerity 2010-20.
In spite being the wealthiest city in the UK, London has the largest rate of poverty of any region in England, with over 27 percent of London residents living in poverty in 2021, once the housing costs are taken into account.
The pandemic broadened inequalities in life expectancy between the wealthiest and poorest communities in London and across England, with life expectancy of both men and women dipping further and more rapidly within the poorest communities. In 2020, London witnessed the highest increase in preventable deaths of any region in the UK, disproportionately impacting the most deprived communities. These same communities face the highest risks due to the cost-of-living crisis.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says “It is unacceptable that so many people are experiencing poverty and struggling to get by in a city as prosperous as ours. The pandemic laid bare the inequalities in our capital following a decade of austerity, and now the spiralling cost of living is hitting the health of those most in need again. We simply cannot stand by as the most vulnerable groups suffer and risk further widening health inequalities in the capital.”