Socioeconomic development and life expectancy relationship: evidence from the EU accession candidate countries

Abstract

AbstractThis paper investigates the effect of the socioeconomic development on life expectancy at birth as an indicator of mortality or longevity in five EU accession candidate countries (Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania). Using aggregate time series pool data on an annual level from UN and World Bank databases for the period 1990–2017 and Full Information Maximum Likelihood model, it was found that this connection between the socioeconomic conditions and life expectancy at birth is a prerequisite for longer life in all these five countries. Our dependent variable was the life expectancy at birth, and the background exploratory variables for the socioeconomic development were GDP per capita and infant mortality rate. The main results are that higher values of GDP per capita and lower values of infant mortality levels lead to higher life expectancy at birth suggesting that longevity of people in these five countries is increasing. These results are supported by our theoretical background and research framework hypotheses.