Document Type
Thesis
First Faculty Advisor
Mohan, Ramesh
Keywords
life expectancy; low income countries
Rights Management
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Abstract
This study attempts to determine the impact of several socioeconomic determinants of life expectancy for 34 low income countries using ordinary least squares linear regression. Most explanatory variables were statistically significant, implying that the socioeconomic variables of interest, including government health expenditures, access to basic sanitation facilities, HIV prevalence, urbanization, education, and sex, are important measures in influencing life expectancy. Foreign aid, corruption, and undernourishment, were determined insignificant when determining life expectancy. Based on the analysis results, it has been suggested that these developing countries implement appropriate policies and programs to increase HIV education and preventative measures, increase women’s rights and labor force participation, and specifically direct foreign aid inflows, in order to increase the life expectancy of people in the country.
