Income Inequality, Illiteracy Rate, and Life Expectancy in Brazil
E. Messias
American Journal of Public Health, 2003, vol. 93, issue 8, 1294-1296
Abstract:
Objectives. The link between income disparities and health has been studied mostly in developed nations. This study assesses the relationship between income disparities and life expectancy in Brazil and measures the impact of illiteracy rates on the association. Methods. The units of analysis (n=27) are all the Brazilian states and the federal capital. Simple and multiple linear regressions were performed to measure the association between income disparity, measured by the Gini coefficient, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and illiteracy rate. Data came from publicly available sources at the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Results. Income disparities and illiteracy rates were negatively associated with life expectancy in Brazil. GDP per capita was positively associated with life expectancy. The inclusion of illiteracy rates in the regression model removed the effect of income disparities. Conclusions. Illiteracy rate is strongly associated with life expectancy in Brazil. This finding is in accord with reports from the United States and has implications for health policy and planning for both developed and developing countries.
Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)
There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:2003:93:8:1294-1296_9
Access Statistics for this article
American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia
More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().