In some ways, a person’s health is due to the “luck of the draw.” All the circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live and work affect how they develop physically, mentally and emotionally. These circumstances—an individual’s neighborhood, family, education, race, gender, class background, diet, workplace and access to health care, for instance—are in turn shaped by a bigger set of forces: economics, social policies and politics. But the social determinants of health are not fixed: individuals and communities can work to change those circumstances so all people have equal opportunities to grow and thrive.

Learn more at www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/