HSE Researchers Find Unemployment Extends Life in Rich Countries

Russian scientists from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE) have established an interesting relationship between the unemployment rate and the life expectancy of citizens of poor and rich countries. About it reported university press office. According to the analysis of HSE experts, unemployment prolongs life in developed countries.

Those interested in the economy may get the feeling that the more employed the population, the better things are in all areas. However, the relationship between work and average duration turned out to be more complex. Researchers from the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences found that other factors play a big role here.

Scientists analyzed the statistics of the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) UN for 2011-2019. They were interested in such socio-economic data as GDP per capita, unemployment rate, population density, etc. In addition, the characteristics of the health systems of different countries were compared: health expenditure per capita, number of hospital beds and health workers per thousand people. During the study, scientists also compared the state of the environment (carbon dioxide emissions), as well as the provision of food, the prevalence of tobacco and the level of alcohol consumption in different countries.

The HSE staff found that the higher the income, the longer the average life expectancy, and with a further increase in income, this effect weakens, since the length of time a person stays on this earth has a natural limit. At the same time, unemployment has an unexpected effect on this parameter.

Thus, in poor countries, a 1% increase in unemployment reduces life expectancy by 0.23 years. But in states with incomes above the average, the effect turned out to be the opposite. In them, an increase in unemployment by 1% increases life expectancy by 0.16 years. The authors of the study attribute this to the fact that in poor countries, the loss of a job often leads to a significant deterioration in nutrition, living conditions and the inaccessibility of medicines. In rich countries, such subsidence does not occur. The negative consequences of unemployment there are offset by a developed system of healthcare and social support.

Formerly MK informedthat the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of the Donetsk People’s Republic will begin to develop a procedure for paying unemployment benefits to its citizens. This is stated in the new decree No. 83 of the Acting Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.