Richard Wilkinson was educated at Leighton Park School, Reading Technical College He studied economic history at the London School of Economics. He then took an MA at the University of Pennsylvania. His University of Nottingham Masters thesis was "Socio-economic factors in mortality differentials" (1976)

His first book, Poverty and Progress was published by Methuen in 1973.

He was a research student on a Health Education Council fellowship at the Department of Community Health, Nottingham University and spent a year on a large-scale computer analysis of the possible causes of different health outcomes and social strata.

On 16 December 1976, his article entitled 'Dear David Ennals' was published in New Society; at that time, David Ennals was Secretary of State for Social Services. The article led eventually to the 1980 publication of the Black Report on Inequalities in Health.

He retired from his post as a professor of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham in 2008. He was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor. He is also Honorary Professor at University College London.

In 2009 Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett founded the Equality Trust, which seeks to explain the benefits of a more equal society and campaigns for greater income equality .

Books

• Poverty and progress: an ecological model of economic development. Methuen, 1973. ISBN 0416086608 ISBN 0416776000
• Class and health : research and longitudinal data, edited by Richard G. Wilkinson for the Economic and Social Research Council. Tavistock, 1986. ISBN 0422603600
• Income and health, Allison Quick and Richard G. Wilkinson. Socialist Health Association, 1991. ISBN 0900687177
• Health and social organization : towards a health policy for the twenty-first century, edited by David Blane, Eric Brunner and Richard G. Wilkinson. Routledge, 1996.ISBN 0415130700
• Unfair shares: the effects of widening income differences on the welfare of the young. Dr Barnado’s, 1995. ISBN 0902046160
• Unhealthy Societies: The Affliction of Inequality. London: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0415092345 ISBN 0415092353 (pbk.)
• The society and population health reader, edited by Ichiro Kawachi, Bruce P. Kennedy and Richard G. Wilkinson. V.1, Income inequality and health. New York : New Press, 1999. ISBN 1565845269
• Mind the gap: hierarchies, health and human evolution. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000. (Darwinism today series) ISBN 0297646486 and Yale ISBN 9780300089530
• The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier. New York: The New Press, 2005. UK: Routledge ISBN 9780415372688 ISBN 9780415372695 (pbk)
• Social determinants of health, edited by Michael Marmot and Richard G. Wilkinson. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780198565895 Previous edition: 1999.
• Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better (with K. Pickett). Allen Lane, 2009. ISBN 9781846140396
• Health and inequality major themes in health and social welfare, edited by Kate E. Pickett and Richard G. Wilkinson. Routledge, 2009. Four volumes, ISBN 9780415443135 (for set) Contents: v. 1. Health inequalities : the evidence...v. 2. Health inequalities : causes and pathways...v. 3. Health inequalities : interventions and evaluations...v. 4. The political, social and biological ecology of health.

Papers

• Health, economic structure and social indicators, Richard G. Wilkinson. Centre for Economic Policy Research (Great Britain): Discussion papers ; 17. 1984.
• British Medical Journal. 24 November 2007; 335(7629): 1080. " Child wellbeing and income inequality in rich societies: ecological cross sectional study", Kate E Pickett and Richard G Wilkinson

Further journal articles listed and some downloadable at Scientific Commons(paperback)]. Some further titles are listed here

Other

• 2008 Eve Saville Memorial Lecture: "Inequality: The obstacle between us", at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London School of Law.