SDG 8: Health, decent work and the economy

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) interconnect in their mission to create a better and more sustainable future. Improving health runs through them all. SDG 3 calls for healthy lives for all at all ages, while SDG 8 calls for decent work for all. Taking action on one SDG gets results in the other.

Key messages

  • Good health is a motor of employment: it increases the chances of finding a job and of being more productive while at it.
  • Individuals in poor health are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed as poor health reduces their ability to work or to be productive.
  • Unemployment and nonstandard work have a strong negative effect both on mental and physical health and on well-being.
  • Health and employment can, consequently, reinforce each other in either a vicious or virtuous way.
  • The health system is a key player in the economy as a major source of employment and of services to help people to keep healthy and to treat them in ill health.