Health, Poverty and Indigenous Households: An Empirical Analysis of Self Rated Health In Chile

David Ader, Pennsylvania State University

Prior research has shown correlations between poverty and health with lower income associated with poorer health outcomes. While worldwide concern for indigenous people gained a voice in the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, little is known empirically about how indigenous people compare socially and demographically to the non-indigenous population, what mechanisms perpetuate the higher rates of poverty among the indigenous population, and how they confront difficult social and economic challenges as they piece together a living. Using descriptive and multivariate techniques with nationally representative household data the author analyzes variations in self-rated health between the indigenous and non-indigenous populations in Chile. The results show that Indigenous people are significantly more likely than the non-indigenous population to report bad/very bad health. The results also indicate a need for further research on the interactions of poverty and residence on health.