THE ROLE OF EDUCATION ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES MORTALITY RATES: THE COVID-19 CASE

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the global medical community and government officials. This study aimed to verify whether the level of education influences COVID-19 mortality rates considering the population’s average age since elderly patients are more likely to have adverse outcomes from the disease. The study used secondary data on education presented in the GCR 2019. Also,  data on COVID-19 and the average age of the population was obtained from the Worldometer platform, examining a sample of 133 countries. The results show that high levels of education tend to mitigate the effect of the average age of the population on the number of deaths per million inhabitants, indicating that education, regardless of age, makes people more prepared to avoid COVID-19.