This structured evidence review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence on how socioeconomic policies shape health outcomes, with a focus on informing UK local and regional economic strategies and devolution policy. Drawing on 144 studies from high-income countries, it establishes that population health is profoundly influenced not only by healthcare or individual behaviour, but also by the structural conditions created by economic policy.
These studies include a mix of national, regional, and local policy interventions. Within the context of an evolving devolution agenda in both England and the devolved nations, approaches to improving health though economic development should be considered as part of efforts to improve partnership and coherence across tiers of the state.
This structured evidence review identifies six critical features of socioeconomic policies that improve health:
- multi-component design,
- sustained intensity and duration,
- context-sensitive delivery,
- workforce capacity and implementation quality,
- delivery infrastructure and financial sustainability, and
- embedded learning and political coherence.
However, even well-intentioned programmes can produce limited or negative effects if these core features are absent. Weak implementation, underinvestment in workforce training, or misalignment with local context can undermine effectiveness or exacerbate inequalities. Programmes that are not tailored to local governance structures, economic conditions, or population characteristics may fail to engage those most in need. This highlights the importance of context-sensitive delivery and the risks of one-size-fits-all approaches.
Despite the review’s wide scope, significant evidence gaps persist. Migrants, disabled persons, and many minority-ethnic communities remain conspicuously underrepresented, and context-blind interventions risk entrenching—or even amplifying—existing inequities. Long-term data on health and economic outcomes are sparse, and formal cost-effectiveness analyses are rare.
Notwithstanding these gaps, the review highlights clear opportunities for subnational leaders—particularly within England’s evolving devolution settlement—to embed health considerations into economic strategy. It offers three principal contributions:
- a cross-cutting synthesis of international and UK evidence;
- second, an articulation of the conditions under which socioeconomic interventions deliver the greatest health dividends;
- an empirical foundation for developing an actionable framework for integrating health into economic policymaking at local and regional government levels.
As mayoral strategic authorities assume broader economic powers with the deepening and widening of devolution, these findings provide a timely, evidence-based foundation for designing inclusive growth strategies that actively improve population health.
