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Riya Kewalani, Insiya Sajjad Hussain Saifudeen Du Riya Kewalani, Insiya Sajjad Hussain Saifudeen Dubai Gem Private School, Oud Metha Road, Dubai, PO Box 989, United Arab Emirates; riya.insiya@gmail.com
ABSTRACT: This research aims to investigate whether climate has an impact on life expectancy. In analyzing economic data from 172 countries that are publicly available from the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects 2019, as well as classifying all countries from different regions into hot or cold climate categories, the authors were able to single out income, education, sanitation, healthcare, ethnicity, and diet as constant factors to objectively quantify life expectancy. By measuring life expectancies as indicated by the climate, a comprehensible correlation can be built of whether the climate plays a vital role in prolonging human life expectancy and which type of climate would best support human life. Information gathered and analyzed from examination focused on the contention that human life expectancy can be increased living in colder regions. According to the research, an individual is likely to live an extra 2.2163 years in colder regions solely based on the country’s income status and climate, while completely ruling out genetics. KEYWORDS: Earth and Environmental Sciences; Life expectancy; Climate Science; Longevity; Income groups.
To better understand the study, it is crucial to understand the difference between life span, life expectancy, and longevity. According to the United Nations Population Division, life expectancy at birth is defined as “the average number of years that a newborn could expect to live if he or she were to pass through life subject to the age-specific mortality rates of a given period.” ¹ When addressing the life expectancy of a country, it refers to the mean life span of the populace in that country. This factual normal is determined dependent on a populace in general, including the individuals who die during labor, soon after labor, during puberty or adulthood, the individuals who die in war, and the individuals who live well into mature age. On the other hand, according to News Medical Life Sciences, life span refers to “the maximum number of years that a person can expect to live based on the greatest number of years anyone from the same data set has lived.” ² Taking humans as the model, the oldest recorded age attained by any living individual is 122 years, thereby implicating that human beings have a lifespan of at least 122 years. Life span is also known as longevity. As life expectancy has been extended, factors that affect it have been substantially debated. Consensus on factors that influence life expectancy include gender, ethnicity, pollution, climate change, literacy rate, healthcare access, and income level. Other changeable lifestyle factors also have an impact on life expectancy, including but not limited to, exercise, alcohol, smoking and diet. Nevertheless, life expectancy has for the most part continuously increased over time. The authors’ study aims to quantify and study the factors that affect human life expectancy. According to the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Neolithic and Bronze Age data collected suggests life expectancy was an average of 36 years for both men and women. ³ Hunter-gatherers had a higher life expectancy than farmers as agriculture was not common yet and
people would resort to hunting and foraging food for survival. From then, life expectancy has been shown to be an upward trend, with most studies suggesting that by the late medieval English era, life expectancy of an aristocrat could be as much as 64 years; a figure that closely resembles the life expectancy of many populations around the world today. The increase in life expectancy is attributed to the advancements made in sanitation, education, and lodging during the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, causing a consistent decrease in early and midlife mortality. Additionally, great progress made in numerous regions of well-being and health, such as the discovery of antibiotics, the green revolution that increased agricultural production, the enhancement of maternal and child survival, and mortality from infectious diseases, particularly human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/ AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), has declined. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global average life expectancy has increased by 5.5 years between 2000 and 2016, which has been notably the fastest increase since the 1950s.⁴ As per the United Nations World Population Prospects, life expectancy will continue to display an upward trend in all regions of the world. However, the average life expectancy isn’t predicted to grow exponentially as it has these past few decades. Projected increases in life expectancy in Northern America, Europe and Latin American and the Caribbean are expected to become more gradual and stagnant, while projections for Africa continue at a much higher rate compared to the rest of the world. Asia is expected to match the global average by the year 2050. Differences in life expectancy across regions of the world are estimated to persist even into the future due to the differences in group incomes, however, income disparity between regions is forecasted to diminish significantly by 2050 ... |