The UK’s New Socio-economic Classification and Its Relationship to Health Inequalities

Abstract

This paper describes the conceptual and measurement issues relating to the UK's new socio-economic classification (NS-SEC). Data are drawn from the British Household Panel Survey to demonstrate the relationship of the NS-SEC to a series of health indicators: overall self-rated health, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, smoking, visits to family doctor, and health-limited work. Advantages of the NS-SEC over previous UK socio-economic measures are discussed.