Title: Impact of environmental and economic determinants on life expectancy: a sustainable development exploration in Sino-Pak from 1965 to 2020

Authors: Hafiz Syed Mohsin Abbas; Aisha Azhar; Ahmad Ali Gul

Addresses: College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, China ' School of Governance and Society, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan ' Centre for Disaster Management, University of Management of Technology, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

Abstract: This study comparatively examines the impact of environmental, economic, and fiscal determinants on health well-being (life expectancy-LE) and social development in Sino-Pak. The present study uses LE at birth to proxy health well-being and the dependent variable. At the same time, carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) and gross domestic product per capita (GDPpc) as independent variables from 1965-to-2020, and current health expenditures per capita (CHE) is moderator variable from 2000-to-2020. OLS Statistics and graphical demonstrations show that CO₂ emissions negatively affect the LE in Sino-Pak throughout the selected period while GDPpc has improved the LE in both countries. Adding a moderator role shows that CHE has played a promising role in China compared to Pakistan for life quality and Sustainable Development Goal 03. The study concludes that the Pakistan Government should adopt effective fiscal and administrative policies from China for better implementations and effective health well-being to achieve the SDG.

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions; CO₂; current health expenditures per capita; CHE; gross development product per capita; GDPpc; sustainable development; life expectancy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2024.135635

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2024 Vol.23 No.1, pp.40 - 56

Received: 10 May 2022
Accepted: 21 Oct 2022
Published online: 20 Dec 2023 *