IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025issue-15p917-923.html

The Impact of Life Expectancy on Health Expenditure in Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Yu Chunxi

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)

  • Hong Senhao

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)

  • Doris Padmini S. Selvaratnam

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)

Abstract

In this research, the researcher examines the dynamic association between gender-specific life expectancy male and female, and per capita health expenditure in Malaysia using time-series data between 2000 and 2024. Through applying Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, the analysis shows that male life expectancy and female life expectancy have a positive and statistically significant effect on current health expenditure per capita. This implies that the longer the life expectancy the higher the requirement of health care services, especially long-term care, chronic diseases management and the elderly support systems. The findings support the thesis that the ageing population, regardless of the gender, results in the strain on the national health budgets. Moreover, the higher coefficient in female life expectancy suggests that the health planning costs of longer lifespan of women might be more significant. The research highlights the importance of an active gender-responsive healthcare policy framework that can match the population changes in Malaysia. Based on these facts, policymakers must ensure that they invest in effective health infrastructure, prevention, and sustainable financing mechanisms of healthcare provision to meet future needs of a longer-living population.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu Chunxi & Hong Senhao & Doris Padmini S. Selvaratnam, 2025. "The Impact of Life Expectancy on Health Expenditure in Malaysia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(15), pages 917-923, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-15:p:917-923
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-15/917-923.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/the-impact-of-life-expectancy-on-health-expenditure-in-malaysia/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baltagi, Badi H. & Moscone, Francesco, 2010. "Health care expenditure and income in the OECD reconsidered: Evidence from panel data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 804-811, July.
    2. Gallet, Craig A. & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2017. "The impact of healthcare spending on health outcomes: A meta-regression analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 9-17.
    3. Mohan, Ramesh & Mirmirani, Sam, 2007. "An Assessment of OECD Health Care System Using Panel Data Analysis," MPRA Paper 6122, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hilaire Gbodja Houeninvo, 2022. "Effects of health expenditures on infant and child mortality rates: A dynamic panel data analysis of 37 African countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(2), pages 255-267, June.
    2. Lopreite, Milena & Zhu, Zhen, 2020. "The effects of ageing population on health expenditure and economic growth in China: A Bayesian-VAR approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    3. Stefan Schiman-Vukan, 2013. "Langfristige Perspektiven der öffentlichen Finanzen in Österreich. Projektionen des Staatshaushalts bis 2050," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46670.
    4. Kossova, T. & Kossova, E. & Sheluntsova, M., 2023. "Estimating effect of healthcare expenditures and alcohol overconsumption on the health of the Russian population," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 66-78.
    5. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Juncal Cunado & Luis A. Gil-Alana & Rangan Gupta, 2018. "The relationship between healthcare expenditure and disposable personal income in the US states: a fractional integration and cointegration analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 913-935, November.
    6. Niek Stadhouders & Xander Koolman & Christel van Dijk & Patrick Jeurissen & Eddy Adang, 2019. "The marginal benefits of healthcare spending in the Netherlands: Estimating cost‐effectiveness thresholds using a translog production function," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(11), pages 1331-1344, November.
    7. Xiaohui You & Albert A. Okunade, 2017. "Income and Technology as Drivers of Australian Healthcare Expenditures," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(7), pages 853-862, July.
    8. Eibich, Peter & Ziebarth, Nicolas, 2014. "Examining the Structure of Spatial Health Effects in Germany Using Hierarchical Bayes Models," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 49, pages 305-320.
    9. James Lomas & Stephen Martin & Karl Claxton, 2018. "Estimating the marginal productivity of the English National Health Service from 2003/04 to 2012/13," Working Papers 158cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    10. Moheddine Younsi & Marwa Bechtini, 2024. "Financing Health Systems in Developing Countries: the Role of Government Spending and Taxation," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13182-13210, September.
    11. Felipa de Mello-Sampayo & Sofia de Sousa-Vale, 2014. "Financing Health Care Expenditure in the OECD Countries: Evidence from a Heterogeneous, Cross-Sectional Dependent Panel," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(2), pages 207-225, March.
    12. Chee-Ruey Hsieh & Ya-Ming Liu & Chia-Lin Chang, 2013. "Endogenous technological change in medicine and its impact on healthcare costs: evidence from the pharmaceutical market in Taiwan," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(2), pages 287-295, April.
    13. Tomasz Rokicki & Aleksandra Perkowska & Marcin Ratajczak, 2020. "Differentiation in Healthcare Financing in EU Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Eugene Kouassi & Oluyele Akinkugbe & Noni Oratile Kutlo & J. M. Bosson Brou, 2018. "Health expenditure and growth dynamics in the SADC region: evidence from non-stationary panel data with cross section dependence and unobserved heterogeneity," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 47-66, March.
    15. Laura Savu & Bogdan Copcea, 2018. "The Relationship Between Healthcare And Growth In Oecd Eastern European Countries," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 4, pages 92-101, August.
    16. Lopreite, Milena & Misuraca, Michelangelo & Puliga, Michelangelo, 2023. "An analysis of the thematic evolution of ageing and healthcare expenditure using word embedding: A scoping review of policy implications," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PB).
    17. Felder, Stefan & Tauchmann, Harald, 2013. "Federal state differentials in the efficiency of health production in Germany: an artifact of spatial dependence?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(1), pages 21-39.
    18. Błażej Łyszczarz & Ewelina Nojszewska, 2015. "Determinants of health care expenditure in Europe," Collegium of Economic Analysis Annals, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis, issue 39, pages 183-198.
    19. Naoto Jinji & Xingyuan Zhang, 2015. "International Knowledge Flows and Productivity: Intra- vs. Inter-Industry Spillovers," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 451-474, September.
    20. Nilgun Yavuz & Veli Yilanci & Zehra Ozturk, 2013. "Is health care a luxury or a necessity or both? Evidence from Turkey," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(1), pages 5-10, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-15:p:917-923. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.