Effects of Socioeconomic Factors on Nigeria’s Life Expectancy at Birth

Abstract

The distinct ripple effects brought about by globalization is clearly evident in the lifestyle of the 21st century human population, with more stint in the advanced nations of the world. The quest to help the population live more smarter owing to the application of social oriented technologies with health care benefits and sustainability of the environment are all considered leverages to achieving good standard living. In the context of the health industry, today’s medical field is characterized by efficient and effective preventive and curative medical practices that tends to keep the human population healthy, thus improving the lifespan of human as a result of provision and unhindered access to essential social and basic amenities, minimization of health disparities in the population, improved work balance and sensitization on healthy nutritional benefits are all vital factors contributing to this goal. Before the advent of human economic development and growth, poverty, lack of basic amenities and diseases are noted to be the key deciminating scourges that ravage the human population and reduction of human life longevity. Raza et al., (2012) attributed many death occurrences before age 54 years in the 20th century to death from diseases, especially due to HIV/AIDS with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for the greatest causality. In view of this, different government of countries in the world recognized the need to keep their population healthy and strong in a bid to improve productivity, especially among their working force and to ensure the reduction in disease burden which invariably optimize public spending and encourage economic prosperity. This led to the development of a metric called life expectancy to measure nations’ performance index in prolonged longevity.