It is widely known that countries with high per-capita wealth have long life expectancies, but just how strong is the correlation across the board? In this video from The Gapminder Foundation, Hans Rosling, professor of international health at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, explores the visual data that details the link between gross domestic product (GDP) and longevity. The short answer, as the video has it, is that ‘rich people live longer’. What the data also show, however, is that in the middle range of GDP, there’s a huge range in life expectancy, which is attributed to how states spend their money.
For more on the correlation between wealth and lifespan disparities, read Linda Marsa’s ‘The Longevity Gap’.
http://aeon.co/magazine/health/will-new-drugs-mean-the-rich-live-to-120-and-the-poor-die-at-60/
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