4.2 Variations in health and life expectancy Flashcards
Which two regions have the most gender disparity in literacy rates?
Africa and South Asia
Why is there high gender disparity in literacy rates in Africa?
-women are expected to marry young and stay home
-primary school costs money so families prioritize sending boys over girls
-girls are expected to stay home and provide care for the family
Why is there high gender disparity in literacy rates in Asia?
-political reasons are far more pronounced, with the Taliban preventing all girls from going to school and females are only allowed out with a male escort
Where in the world has the highest fertility rates and why?
LICs have lots of children, such as African countries, as they have a high infant mortality rate
High mortality rates are partly due to a lack of basic education and therefore sanitation
Contraception is less available and culturally accepted
Children need to work at home
Where in the world has the lowest fertility rates in the world?
HICs only have 1-2 children as it’s very expensive to raise a child, thanks to care costs
Birth control is free and widespread
Where are the highest levels of life expectancy found?
In developed countries, such as the UK, Western Europe, Japan, Australia and Canada.
China and Thailand have surprisingly high life expectancy for Asia
Interestingly, the US has a lower life expectancy of 82-86 than Canada, which has approximately 90 years. This could be due to factors like gun control or obesity levels
Where in the world has the lowest life expectancy?
In Africa- least developed countries and highest rates of poverty. Average at around 62 years of age.
Afghanistan also presents an anomaly as it has a much lower life expectancy than its surroundings - due to political regime, treatment of women and lack of healthcare provision
What is suggested if a country has low levels in disparity of life expectancy between genders?
biologically, women should be living longer than men, so if the disparity is very little, it shows inequality towards women, due to women not living as long as they should or a lack of development.
For example, Nigeria- could suggest high levels of deaths when giving birth
What is an example where gender disparity in life expectancy between men and women is unusually high?
In Russia, due to their culture of high levels of drinking, and in some years, due to war
What are the three categories that determine factors which affect health and lifestyle?
-wider determinants
-lifestyle factors
-preventative healthcare
What are some of the factors affecting health and life expectancy, under wider determinants?
-sanitation
-clean water
-sewage disposal
-education
-poverty
-occupation
-pollution
-conflict
What are some of the factors affecting health and life expectancy, under lifestyle determinants?
-age of child birth
-health and diet (obesity in HICs and malnutrition in LICs)
-wealth
-culture
-smoking/drugs/alcohol
-sport/exercise facilities
What is the life expectancy is Algeria?
76.39
What is the life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
56.54 (almost the world’s lowest)
How does governance and conflict affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-benefitted from a strong government
-Met and surpassed many Millennium development goals, including reducing poverty and hunger by half from 1999 to 2015
-progress thanks to the oil industry = 98% export earnings and 36% of GDP
How does poverty and deprivation affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-GDP increased by 30% in 30 years
-Life expectancy up by 16.6
-HDI value is now 0.736 (one of the highest in Africa)
-20% of rural still lack access to safe sanitation and 23% are below the poverty line
How does education affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-expected number of years in school increased by 4.5
-Achieving primary school enrolment rates of 98% in 2011 for children under 6
How does healthcare affect life expectancy in Algeria?
-Infant and mortality rates showing marked improvements, placing Algeria in the top 100 countries in 2015 for the indicator
How does governance and conflict affect life expectancy in Congo?
-conflict has been frequent since 1998
-rich in natural resources like copper, silver and gold, but this has been a curse and cause of conflict with neighbours
-6 million have died (half of which have been under 5) due to conflict or disease/malnutrition due to the lack of food distribution caused by the war
-unstable governance, civil conflict, controversial election procedures and power struggles all add to the conflict
How does poverty and deprivation affect life expectancy in Congo?
-poverty is deeply established, as it was among the lowest HDI rankings in 2014
-third lowest GDP in the world US$800
-lowest in food security- 40% of under 5s suffer from chronic malnutrition
-water for 47.6% is ‘unimproved’
How does education affect life expectancy in Congo?
-40% of children are forced to work instead of attend school
-situation worsened by extensive migration of young adults to cities for work
-lack of skilled migrants poses and threat to economic stability
How does healthcare affect life expectancy in Congo?
-most women have their first baby before 20- infant and maternal mortality rates are the world’s highest
-funding for healthcare is higher as a % of GDP than most African countries due to NGO funding
What did the OECD find in their report on their member’s life expectancy rates between 1985 and 2010
-average life expectancy had increased by 5.1
-Women were living 5 years longer than men
-people with the highest education level could expect to live 6 years longer than those with the lowest levels
-sharp decline in infant mortality
In the OECD report, what were the main reasons for an increase in life expectantcy?
health spending per capita was higher and reduced levels of smoking and calorie intake
In OECD countries, what is the highest cause of death?
Cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks and strokes)
What statistic can be used to highlight how health spending has risen in OECD countries?
In 1960, health spending accounted for less than 4% of GDP, but by 2013, the figure had risen to 8.9%
What proves that healthcare improvement is not the only factor needed to grow to improve life expectancy?
If this was the only factor, then the US would have the highest life expectancy by far, with the highest spending. However, they still have an infant mortality rate of 6 per 1000, which puts it 13th among OECD countries
What are some of the healthcare reasons that mean life expectancy in developed countries are higher for the ageing population?
-better medicines
-increased research into new drugs
-more complex surgery
Overall, this is making the health care budgets far more expensive
How does life expectancy vary between male and female in Australia?
-one of the highest life expectancies in the world as both men and women are living over 80
-Differences in gender show greater differences about territory
-Women in New South Wales and Capital Territory have the highest life expectancy, while the lowest are in Tasmania and the Northern Territory (84.3 v 79)
How does life expectancy vary in Australia due to ethnicity?
-The marked difference is beacause the Aboriginals live mainly in the Northern territory. They have a life expectancy of around 10 years less than non-indigenous people, due to
-high mortality rates, high chronic diseases, higher deprivation and drug use and lower levels of education and employment
How does lifestyle show a variation in life expectancy in Australia?
The quality of life for the Aboriginal people is poor- the second worse in the world. They have poor housing and lack transport to medical centres. However, only 25% now live in rural areas and 30% now live in major cities
High levels of unemployment in Aboriginal people
What are the government trying to do in Australia to close the gap in life expectancy?
Launched the close the gap initiative in 2009, which aims to halve the gap in child mortality, narrow the literacy rate divide and increases the proportion of Aboriginal people in high school
How successful was the Close the Gap initiative by 2018?
-The life expectancy gap of 10 years remain and targets will not be met by 2031
-Employment rates for indigenous people have gone backwards. In 2014-15, 48.4% of Indigenous Australians were employed compared to 78% for non-indigenous people
-Indigenous people only have 87% of indigenous children in early education, compared to 98% of non-indigenous children
-The only target expected to be met by 2020 was to halve the gap in students graduating high school
What are variations of Life expectancy like in Brazil?
As one of the world’s leading emerging countries, women have an average life expectancy of 77.6 years, but there is large levels of difference. Highest life expectancy is in the South East, but there is a surprisingly low level of life expectancy in Rio, which reflects the levels of favelas
How does life expectancy in Brazil vary with ethnicity?
Many indigenous people live in northern remote area, relying on traditional medicines. 900,000 Amendians now live in Brazil, compared with 5 million when Brazil began to colonize. Indigenous people have up to 20 years less life expectancy than indigenous people, with remote areas and an undeveloped lifestyle
What is the average life expectancy for Aboriginal people in Australia?
69 for men and 73.7 for women
What % do Aboriginal people make up of the population in Australia?
3%
How does life expectancy vary in the UK area by area?
-differences between England, Scotland and Wales are minor. However, England remains an unequal country, with the South East living the longest.
There is a 27 year gap in life expectancy between a man living in Kensington and Chelsea compared to those living in Blackpool.
Many in the North East die earlier as they are at a greater risk of cancer or respiratory diseases. Spending on fresh fruit is less in the North because earnings are lower and there’s more deprivation
How does socio-economic group alter life expectancy in the UK?
-There is a 7 year age gap in life expectancy between skilled and unskilled women:
Skilled women: 85.1
Unskilled women: 78.1
However, those richer have a greater risk of obesity or risk of alcoholism
How does life expectancy with ethnic group in the UK?
Chinese live the longest, while Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups have the shortest life expectancy
What is life expectancy like in the UK?
For men, it’s 79.1 and for women, it’s 82.8. However, in recent years, there have been slight falls. 21% of England saw small falls in male life expectancy and 28% for females in 2016.
However, overall life expectancy continues to rise with due to increasing rates of cancer survival and earlier diagnosis of caner diseases
What is the average male life expectancy in the South east and in the North East?
south east = 80.3
North East = 77.8
What is the life expectancy in Tower Hamlets and what is the life expectancy in Richmond?
TH= 79.9 (40% of people are white British)
Richmond= 82.8 (80% are white British)
