Global inequality in life expectancies: what role does income inequality play?

This paper examines trends in global inequalities in Life Expectancy at birth between countries from 1960 to 2017, and studies how income inequality affects inequality in life expectancy. The study uses data from the World Development indicators data set. Inequality is measured using the Gini coefficient. The causal relationship between inequality in Life Expectancy and per capita GDP is examined using reduced form regression models. Life expectancy at birth shows a steadily rising trend. There is a decline in the global inequality in life expectancy over time. Moreover, the decomposition analysis for the Gini coefficient shows that in any year, the between groups inequality is more important than the within groups inequality. This is corroborated by the decomposition of Gini over time. We infer from the devised regression models that there is a positive association between per capita income inequality and inequality in life expectancy. The regressions point out evidence that inequality in lifespan and inequality in per capita income can be explained in terms of inequality in health expenditure.