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Globalization and Health
Published in: Globalization and Health 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research

Socio-ecological perspective of older age life expectancy: income, gender inequality, and financial crisis in Europe

Authors: Jong In Kim, Gukbin Kim

Published in: Globalization and Health | Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

Background

Population is aging rapidly in Europe. Older age life expectancy (OLE) can be influenced by country-level depth of credit information (DCI) as an indicator of financial crisis, gross national income (GNI) per capita, and gender inequality index (GII). These factors are key indicators of socio-ecological inequality. They can be used to develop strategies to reduce country-level health disparity. The objective of this study was to confirm the relationship between socio-ecological factors and OLE in Europe.

Methods

Data were obtained from World Bank, WHO, and UN database for 34 Europe countries. Associations between socio-ecological factors and OLE were assessed with Pearson correlation coefficients and three regression models. These models assumed that appropriate changes in country-level strategies of healthy aging would produce changes in GNI per capital as personal perspective, GII in social environment perspective, and DCI in public policy perspective to implement socio-ecological changes. Hierarchal linear regression was used for final analysis.

Results

Although OLE (women and men) had significant negative correlation with GII (gender inequality index, r = − 0.798, p = 0.001), it had positive correlations with GNI (gross national income per capita, r = 0.834, p = 0.001) and DCI (depth of credit information index, r = 0.704, p = 0.001) levels caused by financial crisis. Higher levels GNI and DCI but lower GII were found to be predictors of OLE (women and men) (R2 = 0.804, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Factors affecting older age life expectancy in Europe were identified from socio-ecological perspective. Socio-ecological indicators (GII, GNI, and DCI) in Europe appear to have a latent effect on OLE levels. Thus, country-level strategies of successful aging in Europe should target socio-ecological factors such as GII, GNI, and DCI value.
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Metadata
Title
Socio-ecological perspective of older age life expectancy: income, gender inequality, and financial crisis in Europe
Authors
Jong In Kim
Gukbin Kim
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Globalization and Health / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1744-8603
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-017-0279-8

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