Social and Economic Determinants of Life Expectancy at Birth in Eastern Europe

Life expectancy at birth is considered a parameter of the social development, health system, or economic development of a country. We aimed to investigate the effects of GDP per capita (as the economic factor), health care expenditure, the number of medical doctors (as social factors), and CO2 emissions (as the environmental factor) on life expectancy. We used panel data analysis for 13 Eastern European countries over the 2000–2020 period. After performing the analysis, we used a cross-country fixed-effects panel (GLS with SUR weights). According to our model, a one percent increase in health expenditure (as % of GDP) increases life expectancy at birth by 0.376 years, whereas each additional medical doctor per 10,000 inhabitants increases life expectancy at birth by 0.088 years on average. At the same time, each additional 10,000 USD per capita each year would increase life expectancy at birth by 1.8 years on average. If CO2 emissions increase by 1 metric ton per capita, life expectancy at birth would decrease by 0.24 years, suggesting that higher carbon emissions are capable of reducing longevity. Every European country has to make special efforts to increase the life expectancy of its inhabitants by applying economic and health policies focused on the well-being of the population.