With each passing year, the average life expectancy of the global population has increased. However, a meaningful interpretation of the increase in the average life expectancy cannot take place without a detailed analysis of the average life expectancy of individual countries and the regions. In Dan Smith's book, The State of the World Atlas, all Western industrialized countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, along with the nations of Western Europe have the life expectancy range of 75 and above. In contrast, in other regions, only Japan and Singapore in Asia, Chile in South America, Costa Rica in Central America, as well as United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait in the Middle East have the same life expectancy. Most of the nations in these regions have the next highest life expectancy range of 65 to 74. What is most alarming is that most nations of the African continent have the life expectancy rage of 45 to 54 (16-7).
Based on the above description, it is evident that wide disparities in the life expectancy rates exist among the nations in different regions. The statistical figures of life expectancy rates are particularly significant to policymakers in national governments and international organizations such as the United Nations that aid developing countries. For some policymakers, the assessment of the life expectancy rates and contributing factors is considered simply as a health issue that can be eradicated by implementing public health campaigns to improve nutrition and awareness (Brown A16). Others argue that life expectancy rates are representative of comparatively more complex forces such as the existence of socioeconomic inequality at the global and national levels (Crossette A10). The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that life expectancy is more an indicator of socioeconomic inequality than physical health.
One of the most prominent indicators of the correlation between l...