GDP vs Life Expectancy

Tom Pope
Tom Pope
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

I began this research project as a requirement of a course I was taking that taught me how to visualize data using the Python programming language. The goal of this was to determine whether there was a correlation between GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and Life Expectancy at birth. It seems logical to me that the two should be related, but let’s see what the data says.

GDP by Country

This graph shows the life expectancy at birth by country. We can see here that Zimbabwe has a slightly lower life expectancy, but most of the countries are somewhere between 70 and 85 years. Looking strictly at Life Expectancy, it would seem there is something unique about Zimbabwe, but most countries are pretty evenly distributed. Lets take a look at the GDP of each of these countries.

GDP increase per year

We can see here that from the year 2000, Zimbabwe saw a significant increase in life expectancy, but the GDP remained relatively flat. It would seem that the two aren’t related. Having done some research about the country, it would seem that the increase in Life Expectancy is more closely connected to availability of medicine versus the GDP of the country. In contrast, China and the U.S. both had significant increase to GDP. The cultural and economic values of these countries is likely the cause, not Life Expectancy.

Life Expectancy increase

This chart shows the life expectancy per country. We can see that the countries who had a significant increase in GDP have a flat increase to life expectancy. In contrast, Zimbabwe showed a considerable increast of Life Expectancy over the same 15 year window but remained flat with regard to GDP growth.

Conclusion: Not related

We can see here that the GDP increase does not necessarily relate to Life Expectancy. The most obvious evidence of this is Zimbabwe, which showed very little change to GDP despite significant improvement to LIfe Expectancy. I expect to see a country on this chart move from bottom left to top right over 15 years, but that doesnt seem to be true.

Final Thoughts:

  • The social conditions and history of each country seem to affect both Life Expectancy and GDP. As a country gains access to better medicine, their citizens live longer. It takes a long longer, however, to overcome generational poverty and produce more valuable product.
  • Data related to access to medicine would help illustrate this further.
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