World health status 1950-2015: Converging or diverging

Srinivas Goli, Moradhvaj, Swastika Chakravorty and Anu Rammohan

PLOS ONE, 2019, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Objective: To advance the goal of “Grand Convergence” in global health by 2035, this study tested the convergence hypothesis in the progress of the health status of individuals from 193 countries, using both standard and cutting-edge convergence metrics. Methods: The study used multiple data sources. The methods section is categorized into two parts. (1) Health inequality measures were used for estimating inter-country inequalities. Dispersion Measure of Mortality (DMM) is used for measuring absolute inequality and Gini Coefficient for relative inequality. (2) We tested the standard convergence hypothesis for the progress in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB) during 1950 to 2015 using methods ranging from simple graphical tools (catching-up plots) to standard parametric (absolute β and σ-convergence) and nonparametric econometric models (kernel density estimates) to detect the presence of convergence (or divergence) and convergence clubs. Findings: The findings lend support to the "rise and fall" of world health inequalities measured using Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). The test of absolute β-convergence for the entire period and in the recent period supports the convergence hypothesis for LEB (β = -0.0210 [95% CI -0.0227 - -0.0194], p

Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0213139

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213139

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