What are disparities?
Disparities develop within society from the distribution of differences between the characteristics of individuals. These differences derive from people's location, housing conditions, employment, levels of wealth and educational achievement, health, ethnicity and gender. Analysis of disparities is important in monitoring the performance of key legislation and policy initiatives on human rights.
Disparities in a population may result in some sections of a population performing differently. This can manifest itself as higher or lower fertility rates, differing educational and employment experiences or changes in health status. Consequently disparities may impact on population change in a number of ways.
Measuring disparities
Disparities within a population have many causes. There is no single data source which can be used to analyse the nature or consequences of inequalities in society. However, important data sources for disparity analysis are the Census of Population and Dwellings and the various social and economic surveys carried out by Statistics New Zealand, along with various other surveys conducted by other government and non-government organisations.
The New Zealand Deprivation Index provides a useful measure of the geographic distribution of disparities within New Zealand. This index was developed by Clare Salmond and Peter Crampton of the Wellington School of Medicine. An overview and atlas of the work based on the 1996 Census of Population and Dwellings has been published (Degrees of Deprivation in New Zealand, Peter Crampton, Clare Salmond et al, David Bateman, Auckland, 2000). Updated version of the index using Census 2001 data.
While the deprivation index has found widespread use in the health sector, its importance means it has a much wider applicability.
Sources of disparities
There are many sources of disparities and inequalities within society and their causes are often difficult to identify. Analytical work on disparity identifies socio-economic diversity as the key underlying factor.
How this diversity is articulated has a large impact on policy formulation and policy outcomes. Socio-economic factors are multi-dimensional but much of the analysis in the past has been mono-focal. For example, the diversity resulting from a range of geographic, economic and cultural aspects may be attributed to only one parameter such as ethnicity, birthplace, linguistic background, age or employment status. The chosen parameter may be an outcome of the disparity rather than the cause. Importance should be placed on identifying the underlying causes of disparity and distinguishing between cause and consequence.
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