The Impact of Environmental Policy, per Capita Income, Inflation and Urbanization on Life Expectancy at Birth: Examples from the BRICS and MIST Countries

Abstract

The development of environmental policies is of great importance for the continuation of the concept of sustainable development. Societies that strive for economic development should aim to leave a cleaner world for future generations. Therefore, as an output of the economic development process, the relationship between life expectancy at birth and environmental policies and welfare increase is a test of the expectation for a clean world. In the study, the effects of economic development components and environmental policies on life expectancy at birth, which is a health indicator in the development process, were investigated for the period 1990-2020, in a model created on the basis of BRICS and MIST countries, which are among the developing country groups. Test such as multicollinearity, varying variance, autocorrelation, and cross-section dependence were applied to the model, and the model was estimated using Generalized Least Squares and Driscoll-Kraay tests. According to the findings, while strict environmental policies and higher per capita income have a positive effect on life expectancy at birth, the effects of urbanization and inflation on life expectancy at birth are not statistically significant. Accordingly, it can be said that societies that care about increasing welfare together with environmental policies will have a longer life expectancy.