Executive Summary
Everyone’s heard the maxim that money cannot buy happiness, but one might expect it to contribute to a longer life. However, while this may be true at the individual level in a private-healthcare economy, it does not hold true at the macro-economic level.
Using life-expectancy figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) alongside GDP figures from the World Bank, we can show that citizens of high-GDP countries do not necessarily enjoy longer lives than citizens of low-GDP countries.
Overall, we shall show that it is access to quality healthcare (e.g. nationalised vs privatised healthcare) alongside progressive taxation for social funding rather than raw GDP that contributes to higher life expectancies. Read More
musings 