Income and inequality as determinants of mortality: An international cross-section analysis

Summary This paper analyses the effects of income and income distribution on mortality. The likely relation between income and mortality for individuals is discussed, and implications for the determinants of mortality at the community level inferred. Measures of income inequality are likely to be related to mortality on aggregate data because of the non-linearity of income effects. An international cross-section analysis is then undertaken in which different measures of income and income distribution are investigated as determinants of mortality, with life expectancy at birth and age five, and infant mortality taken as measures of the dependent variable. It is found that income distribution is consistently and strongly related to mortality; in a relatively inegalitarian country life expectancy may be between five and ten years lower than in a more egalitarian country.