scholarly journals Income, Health, and Well-Being around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Deaton
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
National Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Health Satisfaction ◽  
Previous Discussion ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Per Capita

During 2006, the Gallup Organization conducted a World Poll that used an identical questionnaire for national samples of adults from 132 countries. I analyze the data on life satisfaction and on health satisfaction and look at their relationships with national income, age, and life-expectancy. The analysis confirms a number of earlier findings and also yields some new and different results. Average life satisfaction is strongly related to per capita national income. High-income countries have greater life-satisfaction than low-income countries. Each doubling of income is associated with almost a one-point increase in life satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10 and, unlike most previous findings, the effect holds across the range of international incomes; if anything, it is slightly stronger among rich countries. Conditional on the level of national per capita income, the effects of economic growth on life satisfaction are negative, not positive as would be predicted by previous discussion and previous micro-based empirical evidence. Neither life satisfaction nor health satisfaction responds strongly to objective measures of health, such as life expectancy or the prevalence of HIV infection, so that neither provides a reliable indicator of population well-being over all domains, or even over health.

scholarly journals Health spending and vaccination coverage in low-income countries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Castillo-Zunino ◽  
Pinar Keskinocak ◽  
Dima Nazzal ◽  
Matthew C Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Low Income ◽  
National Income ◽  
Health Spending ◽  
Gross National Income ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Childhood Immunization ◽  
Government Health ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact

SummaryBackgroundRoutine childhood immunization is a cost-effective way to save lives and protect people from disease. Some low-income countries (LIC) have achieved remarkable success in childhood immunization, despite lower levels of gross national income or health spending compared to other countries. We investigated the impact of financing and health spending on vaccination coverage across LIC and lower-middle income countries (LMIC).MethodsAmong LIC, we identified countries with high-performing vaccination coverage (LIC+) and compared their economic and health spending trends with other LIC (LIC-) and LMIC. We used cross-country multi-year linear regressions with mixed-effects to test financial indicators over time. We conducted three different statistical tests to verify if financial trends of LIC+ were significantly different from LIC- and LMIC; p-values were calculated with an asymptotic χ2 test, a Kenward-Roger approximation for F tests, and a parametric bootstrap method.FindingsDuring 2014–18, LIC+ had a mean vaccination coverage between 91–96% in routine vaccines, outperforming LIC- (67–80%) and LMIC (83–89%). During 2000–18, gross national income and development assistance for health (DAH) per capita were not significantly different between LIC+ and LIC- (p > 0·13, p > 0·65) while LIC+ had a significant lower total health spending per capita than LIC- (p < 0·0001). Government health spending per capita per year increased by US$0·42 for LIC+ and decreased by US$0·24 for LIC- (p < 0·0001). LIC+ had a significantly lower private health spending per capita than LIC- (p < 0·012).InterpretationLIC+ had a difference in vaccination coverage compared to LIC- and LMIC that could not be explained by economic development, total health spending, nor aggregated DAH. The vaccination coverage success of LIC+ was associated with higher government health spending and lower private health spending, with the support of DAH on vaccines.

International support for environmental protection

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 757-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
DEBRA K. ISRAEL
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
National Income ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Per Capita

This paper uses household-level survey data from a 1989 Harris poll conducted in 12 developing and three developed countries to examine the empirical relationship between the support for paying higher taxes for environmental protection and per capita national income. Results from ordered probit estimation suggest that as per capita real gross domestic product rises, controlling for other household characteristics, the strength of the support for somewhat higher taxes for environmental protection is falling for low-income countries and rising for high-income countries. The evidence also suggests that environmental protection may be important to people in developing countries during the process of economic growth. The high level of support for environmental protection found among the lower-income African countries included in this study is one result that warrants additional research. Higher economic growth rates are also found to be associated with greater support for environmental protection.

scholarly journals Happy without money: Minimally monetized societies can exhibit high subjective well-being

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244569
Author(s):  
Sara Miñarro ◽  
Victoria Reyes-García ◽  
Shankar Aswani ◽  
Samiya Selim ◽  
Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Monetary Income ◽  
Very High ◽  
Different Levels

Economic growth is often assumed to improve happiness for people in low income countries, although the association between monetary income and subjective well-being has been a subject of debate. We test this assumption by comparing three different measures of subjective well-being in very low-income communities with different levels of monetization. Contrary to expectations, all three measures of subjective well-being were very high in the least-monetized sites and comparable to those found among citizens of wealthy nations. The reported drivers of happiness shifted with increasing monetization: from enjoying experiential activities in contact with nature at the less monetized sites, to social and economic factors at the more monetized sites. Our results suggest that high levels of subjective well-being can be achieved with minimal monetization, challenging the perception that economic growth will raise life satisfaction among low income populations.

Convergence or Divergence Patterns in Global Defence Spending: Further Evidence from a Nonlinear Single Factor Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Shaaba Saba
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
National Income ◽  
Testing Procedure ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Convergence Clubs ◽  
Defence Spending ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
World Income ◽  
International Convergence

AbstractThis study re-examines the international convergence in defence spending for 125 countries spanning 1985–2018. We employ the approach of Phillips and Sul, which tests for the existence of convergence clubs and the modelling of different transition paths to convergence. Our findings suggest no overall defence spending convergence at the world, income groups (except the low-income countries) and regional levels. However, we identify two convergence clubs using an iterative testing procedure and eventually (i) at world level, these two clubs exhibit convergence, and (ii) while taking into account Gross national income, geography and defence alliances/economic cooperation it is possible to make different number of convergence/divergence clubs. Contrary to previous findings, this study finds that the process of convergence in defence spending does not reflect the desirable emanations of defence policies sharing similar characteristics, at least in terms of the allocation of scarce public resources across the globe.

scholarly journals Global improvements in Years of Good Life since 1950

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich Striessnig ◽  
Claudia Reiter ◽  
Anna Dimitrova
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
World Population ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Cognitive Limitations ◽  
Per Capita

Human well-being at the national aggregate level is typically measured by GDP per capita, life expectancy or a composite index such as the HDI. A more recent alternative is the Years of Good Life (YoGL) indicator presented by Lutz et al. (2018; 2021). YoGL represents a refinement of life expectancy in which only those person-years in a life table are counted that are spent free from material (1), physical (2) or cognitive limitations (3), while being subjectively perceived as satisfying (4). In this article, we present the reconstruction of YoGL to 1950 for 140 countries. Since life expectancy – as reported by the UN World Population Prospects in fiveyearly steps – forms the basis of our reconstruction, the presented dataset is also available on a five-yearly basis. In addition, like life expectancy, YoGL can be flexibly calculated for different sub-populations. Hence, we present separate YoGL estimates for women and men. Due to a lack of data, only the material dimension can be reconstructed based directly on empirical inputs since 1950. The remaining dimensions are modelled based on information from the more recent past.

scholarly journals Evaluating farm-level livestock interventions in low-income countries: a scoping review of what works, how, and why

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Johanna F. Lindahl ◽  
Florence Mutua ◽  
Delia Grace
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Livestock Products ◽  
Development Outcomes

Abstract Livestock interventions can improve nutrition, health, and economic well-being of communities. The objectives of this review were to identify and characterize livestock interventions in developing countries and to assess their effectiveness in achieving development outcomes. A scoping review, guided by a search strategy, was conducted. Papers needed to be written in English, published in peer-reviewed journals, and describe interventions in animal health and production. Out of 2739 publications systematically screened at the title, abstract, and full publication levels, 70 met our inclusion criteria and were considered in the study. Eight relatively high-quality papers were identified and added, resulting in 78 reviewed publications. Only 15 studies used randomized controlled trial designs making it possible to confidently link interventions with the resulting outcomes. Eight studies had human nutrition or health as outcomes, 11 focused on disease control, and four were on livestock production. Eight interventions were considered successful, but only four were scalable. We found good evidence that livestock-transfer programs, leveraging livestock products for nutrition, and helping farmers manage priority diseases, can improve human well-being. Our report highlights challenges in garnering evidence for livestock interventions in developing countries and provides suggestions on how to improve the quantity and quality of future evaluations.

scholarly journals Influence of Alcohol and Red Meat Consumption on Life Expectancy: Results of 164 Countries from 1992 to 2013

Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chhabi Lal Ranabhat ◽  
Myung-Bae Park ◽  
Chun-Bae Kim
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Red Meat ◽  
High Income ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
High Consumption

Background: High consumption of red meat, which is carcinogenic to humans, and misuse or abuse of alcohol drinking increase premature death and shortened life expectancy. The aim of this study was to examine the association of alcohol and red meat consumption with life expectancy (LE) by analyzing data from 164 countries using an ecological approach. Design: This was a longitudinal ecological study using data from the United Nation’s (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for 164 countries over the period 1992–2013. In regression analysis, the relationship of alcohol and red meat consumption with LE was estimated using a pooled ordinary least squares regression model. Alcohol and red meat consumption were measured every 5 years. Results: The consumption of alcohol and red meat in high-income countries (HIC) was about 4 times (36.8–143.0 kcal/capita/day) and 5 times (11.2–51.9 kcal/capita/day) higher than that in low-income countries (LIC). Red meat and alcohol consumption had a negative estimated effect on LE in HIC (b = −1.616 p = < 0.001 and b = −0.615, p = 0.003). Alcohol consumption was negatively associated with LE for all income groups, while positive relationships were found for all estimates associated with gross national income (GNI). Conclusions: Red meat and alcohol consumption appeared to have a negative impact on LE in high-income countries (HIC) and upper-middle-income countries (UMIC), although it had no significant association with LE in low-income countries (LIC) or lower-middle-income countries (LMIC). This study suggests reviewing the policies on the gradual reduction of alcohol abuse and the high consumption of red meat, particularly HIC and UMIC.

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