population

Understanding Glasgow: the Glasgow indicators project

Understanding Glasgow sets out to describe the city and its people. The website aims to create an accessible resource that will inform a wide audience about issues of importance to Glasgow's population (e.g. health, poverty, education, environment, etc) and that will illustrate trends, make comparisons both within the city and with other cities, allow progress to be monitored and encourage discussion and engagement about the future of the city.

Ageing across Europe

Many European countries, including the UK, are now facing the dual challenge of responding to the demographic changes brought by population ageing, while also implementing tough austerity measures following the 2008 financial and economic crisis.

With increasing pressure on public budgets, this is an important moment to consider what it is that makes a country a good place to grow old, and where possible to learn lessons from our European neighbours on the policies and services that are most effective in giving older people a good quality of life.

Employment status and health: understanding the health of the economically inactive population in Scotland

Although the association between health and unemployment has been well examined, less attention has been paid to the health of the economically inactive (EI) population. Scotland has one of the worst health records compared to any Western European country and the EI population account for 23% of the working age population.

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare the health outcomes and behaviours of the employed, unemployed and the EI populations (further subdivided into the permanently sick, looking after home and family [LAHF] and others) in Scotland.

The quantification of prison population projections

This article examines projections, or statistical forecasts, of prison populations from a social perspective, treating them as social actors in their own right. Linear regression – the almost universal foundation of prison population projections – is in simple terms the act of drawing a straight line through the data at an angle which best ‘fits’ the observed data, that is, what has already happened.

Integrating health and social care budgets

Over the last decade, Britain’s public services have faced a number of challenges related to a changing population profile, growing demands from more assertive users, and the need for a more sustainable model of delivery. The UK’s huge fiscal deficit will now add the most pressing and complicated challenge of all: cutting expenditure on public services while maintaining quality and user satisfaction.

The contribution of social work and social care to the reduction of health inequalities: four case studies

This briefing argues that support given as social care can help improve health and reduce health disadvantage. Improving access to social care interventions is therefore important to any strategy for reducing health inequality. The concept of health inequalities refers to the avoidable health disadvantage people experience as a result of adverse social factors, such as lack of economic or social capital, or marginalisation. People with higher socio-economic position in society have better life chances and more opportunities to flourish. They also have better health.