Richer countries typically devote a growing share of national income to social services and health care. But does a nation’s greater income translate into longer life spans for its citizens?
In a recent Economic Synopses essay, Guillaume Vandenbroucke, an economist and assistant vice president at the St. Louis Fed, examined whether a country’s economic growth is the key driver behind gains in longevity.
Using annual data from the World Bank, Vandenbroucke analyzed real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and two measures of mortality, the crude death rate (CDR) and life expectancy at birth (LEB), for 86 nations.