Poorest children under 10 are 40% more likely to die than the richest

Children in the United Kingdom born into the lowest socioeconomic group have a 40% increased chance of dying in the first 10 years of life compared with children born into the highest group, a new study has shown.

The study was published in the same week that the UK government had to admit that it had narrowly failed to meet its target of lifting 400 000 children out of poverty by 2004-5. It also showed that hospital admission rates for 14 groups of diseases were also related to social class …