Inequalities in Health Status of World Population

Objectives The paper aims to study the regional variation in population health at world level. It focuses on the analysis of the influence of determinant factors, such as geographic region and income, on health. Prior Work If previous studies on health refer to a specific group of countries, the paper expands the analysis of health status to world countries. Based on prior findings from the literature regarding the factors that affect health, the paper considers two main determinants, income and geographic region. Approach The health status of the population is assessed through a widely used indicator, namely life expectancy at birth, observed for a sample of 193 countries, in 2009. For the analysis of variation of life expectancy among world regions we apply the ANOVA and contrasts methods. We test the differences in life expectancy for different groups of countries. Results The results show that high income countries have the highest average life expectancy. Moreover, life expectancy in European countries is higher than American countries, while African countries have the lowest life expectancy compared to the rest of the world. Implications The existence of differences in life expectancy among world countries reveal the need for differentiated health policies in order to eradicate factors that have negative effects on population health. Value The paper allows to identify the regions that are best performers in health and to explain the differences in health between countries grouped by income level and geographic position.