Tracking Income-related Health Inequality over Time in the Era of Globalization: A Cross-national Analysis Using the Concentration Index

This chapter examines the relationship between income distribution and health inequality, focusing on life expectancy as a measure of health status. Life expectancy at birth serves as a positive health indicator, with higher values suggesting better overall health. The positive concentration index (CI) throughout the analyzed years reflects a pro-rich bias in health inequality, indicating that as a country’s income (measured by per capita gross domestic product [GDP]) increases, so does its population’s life expectancy. This inequality favors wealthier nations, as their health outcomes are significantly better than those of poorer countries. A notable finding is the reduction in health inequality between rich and poor countries from 2005 to 2006, 2007 to 2008, and 2009 to 2015, possibly driven by increased access to health care in developing and underdeveloped nations. However, periods of rising inequality were observed between 2006 to 2007 and 2008 to 2009, suggesting that the disparity in health outcomes worsened, potentially due to insufficient public healthcare investments in poorer nations or rapid improvements in health care in wealthier countries. To address these inequalities, the article recommends that governments in developing and underdeveloped countries should invest in the efficient provision of public healthcare services, ensuring timely access to health care for poorer sections of the population. This, in turn, would help reduce income-related health disparities over time and pave the path toward a more equitable global health landscape.