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Spain’s least privileged groups fare worse on almost every health measure in the latest survey from the National Statistics Institute (INE), published on Tuesday October 20, with the gaps widest for oral health, sedentary lifestyles and smoking.

 

Nearly 79% of the most educated people rate their health as good, compared with 62% in the lowest social groups. Obesity affects 17.2% of adults overall but climbs from 8.8% in the most affluent class to 23.4% in the least affluent, with women hit hardest.

 

Daily smoking among men triples from 8.8% in the highest class to 26.6% in the lowest, while the share who are sedentary in their free time rises from 12.2% to 36.5%. Around 70% of people with fewer resources never do strength training, compared with 37% of the most affluent.

 

In the Region of Murcia, 17.7% of people over 15 smoke daily according to the 2025 Spanish Health Survey, down from 25% in 2011 and 2012 but still the second-highest rate in Spain behind Extremadura. The Region also has the third-highest adult obesity rate at 18.9%, with 21.9% of women affected compared with 16% of men.

 

Dental care shows a stark divide too, as 18% of people in the lowest classes who needed treatment didn’t seek it for financial reasons, compared with 5.9% in the highest. Some 45% at the bottom haven’t visited a dentist in over a year against 28.6% at the top, and 26% have cavities compared with 13%.

 

Depressive symptoms affect 19.1% of the least privileged class against 10.6% of the most privileged, which is almost double, and the gap is widest among women at 23.3% compared with 12.2%.

 

Among those providing informal care for elderly or chronically ill people, 34% in the lowest classes give 20 hours or more a week, against 13% of those with more resources. Inequality appears in childhood as well, with 67.2% of children aged 1 to 14 in the least affluent households spending an hour or more a day in front of a screen on weekdays, compared with 53.7% in the most affluent.

 

 

 

Image: Magnific