Health Disparities Data
Reaching Healthy People goals means improving the health of all Americans. Health professionals must recognize the impact that social determinants have on health outcomes of specific populations—and be aware of the disparities they create.
Health Disparities Tool
To better meet this need, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) partnered with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Office of Minority Health (OMH) to expand DATA2020, the HealthyPeople.gov data search function, to include a tool that shows health disparities information for measurable, population–based objectives where data are available.
Use the health disparities tool on DATA2020.
What is a health disparity?
A health disparity is a type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage.
Read more about disparities in health.
What data does the health disparities tool display?
You can use this tool to:
- View health disparities by demographic groups such as sex, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, family income, disability status, geographic location, and age
- Easily navigate and visualize disparities data and clearly view changes in those disparities over time
- Compare data points for each population group, as well as the range of estimates between each group
- Display all rates, rate ratios, standard errors, confidence intervals, and technical details about data collection methods
For more information about the health disparities data, download the health disparities tool user guide [PDF — 63KB].
Please note that the availability of health disparities data varies by objective.
Will additional data be available in the future?
Yes—the Healthy People team will continue to expand the health disparities tool to better serve the needs of Healthy People 2020 users like you. Eventually, you will be able to search for health disparities information in all systems that provide data for measurable, population-based objectives in Healthy People 2020.
Health Disparities Widget
Our new health disparities widget provides an easy way to share health disparities information from DATA2020 on your own website. A widget is an application that displays featured content from another site directly on your webpage.
