The Sustainability of Population Health

The study of population health encompasses analysis of the fundamental influences on human health, the consequences of such influences for societies and individuals, and the ways in which people and institutions respond to these consequences. A theme lacking from the present discourse is that of the sustainability of population health. To be sustainable, societies must respect the boundaries of natural systems and scorn disparities in standards of living. Preliminary analysis of data from 152 countries reveals an inverse relation between measures of population health and sustainability, although there are examples of societies where this inverse relation does not hold. Future research in population health should begin to question the sustainability of improving the health of some populations at the expense of others, and investigate how some societies appear to be able to achieve population health without compromising the health of the biosphere.