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Background: This study aimed to examine the impact of the human development index (HDI) and other key macroeconomic variables on under-five mortality rates in the select Middle East and North African (MENA) countries from 2003 to 2019. Methods: The study used a panel data method to examine the impact of macroeconomic ‎variables, such as HDI, gross national income per capita ‎‎(GNI), urbanization rate, government health expenditure as a percentage of gross ‎domestic product (GDP), and income distribution inequality index (Gini) on under-five mortality rates in the select MENA countries. Results: The HDI, GNI, urbanization rate, and government health expenditure share to GDP, have decreasing effects on the under-five mortality rate, while inequality in income distribution worsens health status and increases the under-five mortality rate. Conclusions: By strengthening the HDI and increasing economic growth, employment rate, and per capita income, people in the community will have access to health services, thereby reducing under-five mortality.

Considering the undeniable role and importance of the environment in people’s lives, the present study is designed to investigate the combined effect of information and communication technology (ICT) and foreign direct investment (FDI) on achieving environmental sustainability. Since the increasing emission of carbon in society and its destructive environmental effects on social economic aspects and even political tensions have become a challenge, the main question of the research is what strategies have governments, especially oil exporting countries, used in the past to reduce the level they have discovered pollution and what policies do they want to follow in the future? Among the policies undertaken by the OPEC oil exporting countries, has the action for foreign direct investment (FDI) and the development of information and communication technology (ICT) been effective in preventing harmful environmental effects? For this purpose, data on renewable energy consumption, the intensity of use of information and communication technology, foreign direct investment (FDI), and urbanization have been used as explanatory variables, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission as a dependent variable. The target countries selected are oil exporting countries (OPEC) for the period 2000 to 2020, and the analysis method used is panel VAR. The results showed that creating a shock in FDI, labor force, urban population, and renewable energy consumption decreases CO2 while creating a shock in Gross capital formation increases CO2. The impact of shock of ICT on CO2 is also insignificant and can be ignored. The results of variance analysis also showed that urban population, labor force, and FDI variables have the largest contribution in explaining the behavior of CO2; therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to FDI and try to increase the attraction of foreign direct investment to reduce CO2 in OPEC countries. JEL: C23, F43, F64