How does urbanization affect public health? New evidence from 175 countries worldwide

Zhang, Zhenhua; Zhao, Mingcheng; Zhang, Yunpeng; Feng, Yanchao

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.1096964

Cited by 30 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Urbanization is linked to enhance economic and social progress, providing improved access to sanitation, healthcare services, employment, and higher food quality. These findings align with studies by Zhang et al 138 , Jiang et al 38 , Fan et al 139 , Wang 140 , and Gong et al 141 , which similarly found positive associations between urbanization and improved life expectancy and reduced infant mortality rates across diverse country panels. While urbanization’s health effects may vary across nations, our results support its overall positive impacts on health outcome indicators.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Unveiling the health consequences of air pollution in the world’s most polluted nations

Azimi,

Rahman

2024

Sci Rep

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Air pollution poses a persuasive threat to global health, demonstrating widespread detrimental effects on populations worldwide. Exposure to pollutants, notably particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 µm (PM2.5), has been unequivocally linked to a spectrum of adverse health outcomes. A nuanced understanding of the relationship between them is crucial for implementing effective policies. This study employs a comprehensive investigation, utilizing the extended health production function framework alongside the system generalized method of moments (SGMM) technique, to scrutinize the interplay between air pollution and health outcomes. Focusing on a panel of the top twenty polluted nations from 2000 to 2021, the findings yield substantial insights. Notably, PM2.5 concentration emerges as a significant factor, correlating with a reduction in life expectancy by 3.69 years and an increase in infant mortality rates by 0.294%. Urbanization is found to increase life expectancy by 0.083 years while concurrently decreasing infant mortality rates by 0.00022%. An increase in real per capita gross domestic product corresponds with an improvement in life expectancy by 0.21 years and a decrease in infant mortality rates by 0.00065%. Similarly, an elevated school enrollment rate is associated with a rise in life expectancy by 0.17 years and a decline in infant mortality rates by 0.00032%. However, a higher population growth rate is found to modestly decrease life expectancy by 0.019 years and slightly elevate infant mortality rates by 0.000016%. The analysis reveals that per capita greenhouse gas emissions exert a negative impact, diminishing life expectancy by 0.486 years and elevating infant mortality rates by 0.00061%, while per capita energy consumption marginally reduces life expectancy by 0.026 years and increases infant mortality rates by 0.00004%. Additionally, economic volatility shock presents a notable decrement in life expectancy by 0.041 years and an increase in infant mortality rates by 0.000045%, with inflationary shock further exacerbating adverse health outcomes by lowering life expectancy by 0.70 years and elevating infant mortality rates by 0.00025%. Moreover, the study scrutinizes the role of institutional quality, revealing a constructive impact on health outcomes. Specifically, the institutional quality index is associated with an increase in life expectancy by 0.66% and a decrease in infant mortality rates by 0.0006%. Extending the analysis to examine the nuanced dimensions of institutional quality, the findings discern that economic institutions wield a notably stronger positive influence on health outcomes compared to political and institutional governance indices. Finally, the results underscore the pivotal moderating role of institutional quality in mitigating the deleterious impact of PM2.5 concentration on health outcomes, counterbalancing the influence of external shocks, and improving the relationships between explanatory variables and health outcome indicators. These findings offer critical insights for guiding evidence-based policy implications, with a focus on fostering resilient, sustainable, and health-conscious societies.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Unveiling the health consequences of air pollution in the world’s most polluted nations

Azimi,

Rahman

2024

Sci Rep

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“…This is not unexpected considering the high rate of rural–urban migration in the continent, and the observed unplanned rapid urbanization that deteriorates human health conditions through poor housing conditions, overcrowding, and poor environmental sanitation that stimulate the spread of diseases. The finding on this variable though consistent with Nathaniel and Khan ( 85 ), it is, however, contrary to the finding from Zhang et al ( 86 ) and Mahalik et al ( 77 ). A possible reason for this contrary finding is the heterogeneity in the preparedness for the level of urbanization across the region of the world, which was not taken into consideration in the two studies.…”

Section: Empirical Results and Analysissupporting

confidence: 52%

Information and communication technology development and health gap nexus in Africa

David

2023

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionDevelopment of information and communication technology has been identified as a tool for fast and effective information gathering and dissemination, and as a means through which almost every social and economic sector (including the health sector) could achieve economic, operational, and service delivery efficiencies that can enable the realization of targeted outcomes. ICT can serve as a tool for achieving international agreements (including the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978), thereby accelerating the achievement of various global development targets.MethodsConsequently, based on a sample of 38 countries from 2000 to 2018, this study investigates the effect of ICT development on the health gap, and whether the effect varies by gender and sub-region in Africa. The dependent variable (health gap) was measured as the difference between the achieved life expectancy at birth of 60 years and the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978 targeted life expectancy at birth of 60 years. The main independent variables are ICT indicators (ICT index, mobile cellular subscriptions, and internet access), while the gross domestic product (GDP), which is the measure of economic growth, healthcare expenditure, urbanization, and labor market outcome, is employed as control variables. The effect was examined using Driscoll-Kraay standard errors, feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), and panel-corrected standard error (PCSE).Results and discussionThe findings of the Driscoll-Kraay standard errors estimation technique supported by those of FGLS and PCSE suggest that ICT does act as an indispensable stimulator for Africa to significantly exceed the international health target of life expectancy at birth of 60 years. It can be concluded that African leaders need to take advantage and maximize the health-enhancing potential of the internet component of ICT through relevant policies that would improve internet coverage, connectivity, and access for individuals and health institutions.

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“…The central government’s tournament mode of evaluating local officials has encouraged local governments to expand land finance, drive fixed asset investment, increase enthusiasm for infrastructure construction, and directly promote economic growth [ 28 ]. The rapid advancement of the urbanization rate has also contributed to this stimulating effect [ 29 ]. In the long run, because land finance ignores the balanced development of secondary and tertiary industries and the effective allocation of resources, the economic growth model driven by fixed asset investment is not sustainable [ 30 ].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of housing prices and land financing on economic growth: Evidence from Chinese 277 cities at the prefecture level and above

Sun,

Javeed,

Tang

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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With the rapid progress of urbanization in China, the real estate industry, characterized by a long industrial chain, has become a pillar industry for economic development. Therefore, we inspect the nexus between land finance, housing prices, and economic growth. For this purpose, we use the panel data of 277 cities at the prefecture level or above in China from 2011 to 2019, and empirically examine it by using the Panel Vector Auto Regression (PVAR) model. The results show that there is a causal relationship between housing prices and economic growth. Housing prices promote economic growth in the short term and inhibit it in the long term. Both economic growth and housing prices have a significant impact on land finance. The economic growth show a significantly positive impact, while housing prices promote land finance in the short term with a long-term trend from positive to negative. This is the first study that tries to probe the relationship between urban housing prices, land finance, and economic growth by considering 277 prefecture-level and above cities in China. To promote the stable development of the regional economy, local governments need to overcome their dependence on the housing market and land finance and promote the healthy development of the housing market.

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How does urbanization affect public health? New evidence from 175 countries worldwide

Cited by 30 publications

References 70 publications

Unveiling the health consequences of air pollution in the world’s most polluted nations

Unveiling the health consequences of air pollution in the world’s most polluted nations

Information and communication technology development and health gap nexus in Africa

The impact of housing prices and land financing on economic growth: Evidence from Chinese 277 cities at the prefecture level and above

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