In 2023, around 19 percent of Hispanics in the United States did not have health insurance, compared to nine percent of Black, non-Hispanics, and just six percent of non-Hispanic whites. Although the United States generally has a high quality of life and health, there are stark inconsistencies in the prevalence of health conditions, risks, and mortality based on race and ethnicity, as well as inequalities in access to and use of health care services. Health disparities generally refer to measurable differences in the ability to achieve full health potential that exist between population groups. Differences in
is just one example of such disparities.
Differences in health risk factors
The health burden in the U.S. is vastly influenced by non-communicable diseases, the stratification of which also reflects racial/ethnic disparities. For example, although an alarming 33 percent of the total
U.S. adult population is obese, obesity rates are much higher among the Black population, reaching almost 44 percent in 2022. This, in turn, contributes to the higher
prevalence of cardiovascular disease among non-Hispanic Black men and women seen in recent years. Other behaviors related to deleterious health outcomes differ by race and ethnicity as well:
current use of alcohol is highest among the white population, while smoking is most common among non-Hispanic American Indians/Alaska Natives and least common among non-Hispanic Asians.
Disparities in mortality
Perhaps one of the simplest ways to see the racial and ethnic health disparities in the United States is by comparing the leading causes of death among different groups. In 2021, the
leading causes of death for the white population and Black population were diseases of the heart and cancer, reflecting the overall leading causes of death in the United States. However, among the Hispanic population, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death that year, accounting for almost 22 percent of all deaths among this group. Furthermore, kidney disease is among the
ten leading causes of death for Hispanics and the Black population, but not among the leading causes for white people. On the other hand, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death among the white population in 2021, but not among the ten leading causes for the Hispanic or Black populations. Lastly, in 2021, homicide was the seventh
leading cause of death among Black U.S. residents but was not among the ten leading causes for either white or Hispanic residents.
A complex problem with complex solutions
Racial and ethnic health disparities in the U.S. are caused by persistent systemic and structural inequalities within the interconnected economic, social, political, and health systems of the country. Sources for disparities can include geographical differences, lack of access or resources, communication difficulties, prejudice by providers, inadequate funding, and cultural barriers. Although progress has been made in recent years to improve racial disparities in the United States, health disparities remain strikingly present. Fixing such disparities is no simple task and involves not only improving health care access and treatment, but the economic and societal roots of these disparities.
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