Factors in Life Expectancy: A Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract

The objective of the study, selected results of which are presented in the article, is to find the main determinants of life expectancy (LE) using regression analysis methods for four groups of countries classified by income. The criterion for assigning the country to the income group is the indicator of GDP per capita. The paper identifies four income groups: the so-called poor countries, upper middle- and lower middle-income countries, and wealthy countries. The first part of the article analyzes theoretical and applied research in health care, demography, and the relationship of life expectancy with economic development. At the same time, special attention is paid to scientific publications that address the impact on macroeconomic growth in individual countries of such factors as the development of healthcare systems, environmental factors, and life expectancy.The second part of the article highlights issues of testing empirical hypotheses about the direction of the influence of certain groups of factors on life expectancy and the degree of their influence on different income groups of countries using data from the World Bank and the World Health Organization. The paper uses panel data for 2011–2019, based on which regression models are built for each income group of countries, taking into account time lags to correct for endogeneity.The results of the study show the importance of both health system characteristics and socioeconomic factors in most income groups. However, it turns out that the influence of individual factors on life expectancy differs depending on the value of GDP per capita of the country. Thus, for poor countries with low life expectancy, the problems of food availability, health care costs, the share of Internet users, unemployment, and population density are significant. At the same time, in middle-income countries, life expectancy is influenced not only by the above factors but also by the proportion of the urban population, the prevalence of tobacco, the number of hospital beds, and carbon dioxide emissions. For wealthy countries, however, bad habits (both the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol consumption) that are commonly called "diseases of civilization", turn out to be especially significant.