Key Facts on Health and Health Care by Race and Ethnicity

With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting communities of color disproportionately in their health and economic well-being, long-term racial and ethnic disparities have received growing attention. But these inequities in our health system are not new and are a part of larger issues of systemic racism.

An updated KFF chart pack analyzes a wide array of measures of racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care and other factors which can contribute to these disparities. The broad sections of the chart pack include:

• Health Coverage and Access to and Use of Care
• Health Status, Outcomes, and Behaviors
• Social Determinants of Health

The chart pack presents data on six racial/ethnic groups where available: White, Asian, Hispanic, Black, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI). Black, Hispanic and AIAN people fare worse than White people across the majority of measures. While, overall, Asian people do not fare worse than White people across most measures, the data may mask disparities among subgroups within the Asian population. Ongoing data gaps and limits hinder the ability to have a comprehensive understanding of the experiences of AIAN and NHOPI people.

For further research and analysis on these issues, visit the Racial Equity and Health Policy topic page.