Tafran Khaled, Tumin Makmor, Osman Ahmad Farid
Department of Administrative Studies and Politics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Applied Statistics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Iran J Public Health. 2020 Feb;49(2):294-303.
The primary indicator of public health, which all nations aim to prolong, is life expectancy at birth. Uncovering its socioeconomic determinants is key to extending life expectancy. This study examined the determinants of life expectancy in Malaysia.
This observational study employs secondary data from various official sources of 12 states and one federal territory in Malaysia (2002-2014). Panel data of 78 observations (13 cross-sections at six points in time) were used in multivariate, fixed-effect, regressions to estimate the effects of socioeconomic variables on life expectancy at birth for male, female and both-gender.
Poverty and income significantly determine female, male, and total life expectancies. Unemployment significantly determines female and total life expectancies, but not male. Income inequality and public spending on health (as a percentage of total health spending) do not significantly determine life expectancy. The coefficients of the multivariate regressions suggest that a 1% reduction in poverty, 1% reduction in unemployment, and around USD 23.20 increase in household monthly income prolong total life expectancy at birth by 17.9, 72.0, and 16.3 d, respectively. The magnitudes of the effects of the socioeconomic variables on life expectancy vary somewhat by gender.
Life expectancy in Malaysia is higher than the world average and higher than that in some developing countries in the region. However, it is far lower than the advanced world. Reducing poverty and unemployment and increasing income are three effective channels to enhance longevity.
所有国家都致力于延长的公共卫生主要指标是出生时预期寿命。揭示其社会经济决定因素是延长预期寿命的关键。本研究考察了马来西亚预期寿命的决定因素。
这项观察性研究采用了马来西亚12个州和1个联邦直辖区各种官方来源的二手数据（2002 - 2014年）。在多变量固定效应回归中使用了78个观测值的面板数据（六个时间点的13个横截面），以估计社会经济变量对男性、女性和两性出生时预期寿命的影响。
贫困和收入显著决定女性、男性和总体预期寿命。失业显著决定女性和总体预期寿命，但不决定男性预期寿命。收入不平等和卫生公共支出（占卫生总支出的百分比）对预期寿命没有显著影响。多变量回归系数表明，贫困率降低1%、失业率降低1%以及家庭月收入增加约23.20美元，分别使出生时总体预期寿命延长17.9天、72.0天和16.3天。社会经济变量对预期寿命的影响程度在一定程度上因性别而异。
马来西亚的预期寿命高于世界平均水平，也高于该地区一些发展中国家。然而，它远低于发达国家。减少贫困和失业以及增加收入是提高寿命的三个有效途径。
