4.2 Variations in health and life expectancy

Question 1

Which two regions have the most gender disparity in literacy rates?

Answer 1

Africa and South Asia

Question 1

Why is there high gender disparity in literacy rates in Africa?

Answer 1

-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

Question 2

Why is there high gender disparity in literacy rates in Asia?

Answer 2

-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

Question 3

Where in the world has the highest fertility rates and why?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Where in the world has the lowest fertility rates in the world?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Where are the highest levels of life expectancy found?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Where in the world has the lowest life expectancy?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is suggested if a country has low levels in disparity of life expectancy between genders?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is an example where gender disparity in life expectancy between men and women is unusually high?

Answer 8

In Russia, due to their culture of high levels of drinking, and in some years, due to war

Question 9

What are the three categories that determine factors which affect health and lifestyle?

Answer 9

-wider determinants
-lifestyle factors
-preventative healthcare

Question 10

What are some of the factors affecting health and life expectancy, under wider determinants?

Answer 10

-sanitation
-clean water
-sewage disposal
-education
-poverty
-occupation
-pollution
-conflict

Question 11

What are some of the factors affecting health and life expectancy, under lifestyle determinants?

Answer 11

-age of child birth
-health and diet (obesity in HICs and malnutrition in LICs)
-wealth
-culture
-smoking/drugs/alcohol
-sport/exercise facilities

Question 12

What is the life expectancy is Algeria?

Answer 12

76.39

Question 13

What is the life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Answer 13

56.54 (almost the world’s lowest)

Question 14

How does governance and conflict affect life expectancy in Algeria?

Answer 14

-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

Question 15

How does poverty and deprivation affect life expectancy in Algeria?

Answer 15

-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

Question 16

How does education affect life expectancy in Algeria?

Answer 16

-expected number of years in school increased by 4.5
-Achieving primary school enrolment rates of 98% in 2011 for children under 6

Question 17

How does healthcare affect life expectancy in Algeria?

Answer 17

-Infant and mortality rates showing marked improvements, placing Algeria in the top 100 countries in 2015 for the indicator

Question 18

How does governance and conflict affect life expectancy in Congo?

Answer 18

-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

Question 19

How does poverty and deprivation affect life expectancy in Congo?

Answer 19

-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’

Question 20

How does education affect life expectancy in Congo?

Answer 20

-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

Question 21

How does healthcare affect life expectancy in Congo?

Answer 21

-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

Question 22

What did the OECD find in their report on their member’s life expectancy rates between 1985 and 2010

Answer 22

-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

Question 23

In the OECD report, what were the main reasons for an increase in life expectantcy?

Answer 23

health spending per capita was higher and reduced levels of smoking and calorie intake

Question 24

In OECD countries, what is the highest cause of death?

Answer 24

Cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks and strokes)

Question 25

What statistic can be used to highlight how health spending has risen in OECD countries?

Answer 25

In 1960, health spending accounted for less than 4% of GDP, but by 2013, the figure had risen to 8.9%

Question 26

What proves that healthcare improvement is not the only factor needed to grow to improve life expectancy?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

What are some of the healthcare reasons that mean life expectancy in developed countries are higher for the ageing population?

Answer 27

-better medicines
-increased research into new drugs
-more complex surgery
Overall, this is making the health care budgets far more expensive

Question 28

How does life expectancy vary between male and female in Australia?

Answer 28

-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)

Question 29

How does life expectancy vary in Australia due to ethnicity?

Answer 29

-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

Question 30

How does lifestyle show a variation in life expectancy in Australia?

Answer 30

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

Question 31

What are the government trying to do in Australia to close the gap in life expectancy?

Answer 31

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

Question 32

How successful was the Close the Gap initiative by 2018?

Answer 32

-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

Question 33

What are variations of Life expectancy like in Brazil?

Answer 33

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

Question 34

How does life expectancy in Brazil vary with ethnicity?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

What is the average life expectancy for Aboriginal people in Australia?

Answer 35

69 for men and 73.7 for women

Question 36

What % do Aboriginal people make up of the population in Australia?

Answer 36

3%

Question 37

How does life expectancy vary in the UK area by area?

Answer 37

-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

Question 38

How does socio-economic group alter life expectancy in the UK?

Answer 38

-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

Question 39

How does life expectancy with ethnic group in the UK?

Answer 39

Chinese live the longest, while Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups have the shortest life expectancy

Question 40

What is life expectancy like in the UK?

Answer 40

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

Question 41

What is the average male life expectancy in the South east and in the North East?

Answer 41

south east = 80.3
North East = 77.8

Question 42

What is the life expectancy in Tower Hamlets and what is the life expectancy in Richmond?

Answer 42

TH= 79.9 (40% of people are white British)
Richmond= 82.8 (80% are white British)