Institute for Fiscal Studies: Are some ethnic groups more vulnerable to COVID-19 than others? (1 May 2020)

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected some sections of the population more than others, and there are growing concerns that the UK’s minority ethnic groups are being disproportionately affected. Following evidence that minority groups are over-represented in hospitalisations and deaths from the virus, Public Health England has launched an inquiry into the issue.

In the short term, ethnic inequalities are likely to manifest from the COVID-19 crisis in two main ways:

• through exposure to infection and health risks, including mortality;
• through exposure to loss of income.

This report brings together evidence on the unequal health and economic impacts of COVID-19 on people in minority ethnic groups in the UK, presenting information on risk factors for each of the largest minority ethnic groups in England and Wales: white other, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, black African and black Caribbean. The analysis focuses on a limited but crucial set of risk factors in terms of both infection risk and economic vulnerability in the short term.