Examining the impact of ecological deficit on life expectancy in GCC countries: a nonlinear panel data investigation

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have witnessed remarkable economic growth over recent decades. Arguably, this progress of these major oil and natural gas producers has come to the detriment of the environment in terms of increased CO₂ emissions and associated ecological degradation. The effects of these high emissions and environmental challenges on human health, specifically life expectancy (LE), have not been thoroughly explored in the literature. We aim to fill this research gap by assessing the relationship between Ecological footprint deficiency and the diverse and context-specific factors affecting LE in the GCC, highlighting the critical roles of urbanization, economic indicators, and digitization in shaping health outcomes. The study employs panel data for the 2000–2020 period. It utilizes linear and non-linear panel estimation methods to analyze these variables’ long-term and short-term effects. Specifically, we run unit root tests, cointegration analysis to validate our datasets, and OLS, ARDL, and panel threshold regressions to examine said relationships. Our findings reveal a significant relationship between ecological footprint and LE across the GCC countries. The results indicate that a higher ecological deficit is associated with lower LE in our sampled nations. Meanwhile, our panel threshold results highlight more nuanced impacts of our variables of interest, revealing significant threshold effects and intricate dynamics influencing LE. Our results are robust when substituting CO₂ emissions for the ecological footprint suggesting and supporting our evidence for a more complex, potentially nonlinear relationship. Our study emphasizes the urgent need for sustainable environmental policies to mitigate health risks and promote long-term well-being in the GCC region. Nuanced approaches are needed to address each GCC country's health and environmental challenges.