Project description:Background: Dynamics of health care has changed over time along with development of the countries themselves. The aim of the study is to compare macroeconomic and health expenditure indicators of interest, such as total health expenditure (THE) as percentage of global domestic product, global domestic product per capita in US$, and private households' out-of-pocket payments of Balkan and Eastern European countries on health, as well as to assess their progress over the observed period. Methods: This research report represents a descriptive data analysis of indicators extracted from the European Health for All database. The data were analyzed using a linear trend and regression analysis to estimate the timeline changes. Results: Greece and Slovenia have the largest median values of global domestic product per capita throughout the whole period, and the largest increment trend was in Lithuania. Median value in out-of-pocket payment of THE was the highest in Albania and Ukraine, while the largest decrease in trend was noticed in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece had the largest median value of THE as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the observed period, while regression trend analysis showed that Serbia had the largest increase. Most of the countries showed a significant correlation between observed indicators. Conclusion: Trends in the economy must be constantly monitored due to the fact that the population is aging and non-communicable diseases are multiplying, which requires innovations in medical treatment and pharmaceutical development.
Project description:BackgroundThe 5000 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's database affords an opportunity to research for variables related to the differences between nations of their output of schizophrenia trials.MethodsEcological study--investigating the relationship between four economic/demographic variables and number of schizophrenia RCTs per country. The variable with closest correlation was used to predict the expected number of studies.ResultsGDP closely correlated with schizophrenia trial output, with 76% of the total variation about the Y explained by the regression line (r = 0.87, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.92, r2 = 0.76). Many countries have a strong tradition of schizophrenia trials, exceeding their predicted output. All nations with no identified trial output had GDPs that predicted zero trial activity. Several nations with relatively small GDPs are, nevertheless, highly productive of trials. Some wealthy countries seem either not to have produced the expected number of randomised trials or not to have disseminated them to the English-speaking world.ConclusionsThis hypothesis-generating study could not investigate causal relationships, but suggests, that for those seeking all relevant studies, expending effort searching the scientific literature of Germany, Italy, France, Brazil and Japan may be a good investment.
Project description:Maximizing science achievement is a critical target of educational policy and has important implications for national and international economic and technological competitiveness. Previous research has identified both science interest and socioeconomic status (SES) as robust predictors of science achievement, but little research has examined their joint effects. In a data set drawn from approximately 400,000 high school students from 57 countries, we documented large Science Interest × SES and Science Interest × Per Capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) interactions in the prediction of science achievement. Student interest in science is a substantially stronger predictor of science achievement in higher socioeconomic contexts and in higher-GDP nations. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that in higher-opportunity contexts, motivational factors play larger roles in learning and achievement. They add to the growing body of evidence indicating that substantial cross-national differences in psychological effect sizes are not simply a logical possibility but, in many cases, an empirical reality.
Project description:ObjectivesThe state of West Bengal witnessed a significant surge of COVID-19 in all three waves. However, there is a gap in understanding the economic loss associated with COVID-19. This study estimates future non-health gross domestic product (NHGDP) losses associated with COVID-19 deaths in West Bengal, India.SettingVarious open domains were used to gather data on COVID-19 deaths in West Bengal and the aforementioned estimates.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe NHGDP losses were evaluated using the cost-of-illness approach. Future NHGDP losses were discounted at 3%. Excess death estimates by the WHO and Global Burden of Disease (GBD) were used. Sensitivity analysis was carried out by varying discount rates and average age of death (AAD).Results21 532 deaths in West Bengal from 17 March 2020 to 31 December 2022 decreased the future NHGDP by $0.92 billion. Nearly 90% of loss was due to deaths occurring in the age group of 30 years and above. Majority of the NHGDP loss was borne by the 46-60 years age group. NHGDP loss/death was $55,171; however, the average loss/death declined with rise in age. Based on the GBD and WHO excess death estimates, the NHGDP loss increased to $9.38 billion and $9.42 billion, respectively. When the lower age interval is considered as AAD, the NHGDP loss increased to $1.3 billion. At 5% and 10% discount rates, the losses reduced to $0.767 billion and $0.549 billion, respectively.ConclusionsResults from the study suggest that COVID-19 contributed to a major economic loss in West Bengal. The mortality and morbidity caused by COVID-19, the substantial economic costs at individual and population levels in West Bengal, and probably across India and other countries, is another economic argument for better infection control strategies across the globe to minimise the impact of COVID-19.
Project description:An increasing amount of high-resolution global spatial data are available, and used for various assessments. However, key economic and human development indicators are still mainly provided only at national level, and downscaled by users for gridded spatial analyses. Instead, it would be beneficial to adopt data for sub-national administrative units where available, supplemented by national data where necessary. To this end, we present gap-filled multiannual datasets in gridded form for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI). To provide a consistent product over time and space, the sub-national data were only used indirectly, scaling the reported national value and thus, remaining representative of the official statistics. This resulted in annual gridded datasets for GDP per capita (PPP), total GDP (PPP), and HDI, for the whole world at 5 arc-min resolution for the 25-year period of 1990-2015. Additionally, total GDP (PPP) is provided with 30 arc-sec resolution for three time steps (1990, 2000, 2015).
Project description:The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of a generalized dynamic factor model (GDFM) based on dynamic principal components analysis to forecasting short-term economic growth in Romania. We have used a generalized principal components approach to estimate a dynamic model based on a dataset comprising 86 economic and non-economic variables that are linked to economic output. The model exploits the dynamic correlations between these variables and uses three common components that account for roughly 72% of the information contained in the original space. We show that it is possible to generate reliable forecasts of quarterly real gross domestic product (GDP) using just the common components while also assessing the contribution of the individual variables to the dynamics of real GDP. In order to assess the relative performance of the GDFM to standard models based on principal components analysis, we have also estimated two Stock-Watson (SW) models that were used to perform the same out-of-sample forecasts as the GDFM. The results indicate significantly better performance of the GDFM compared with the competing SW models, which empirically confirms our expectations that the GDFM produces more accurate forecasts when dealing with large datasets.
Project description:BackgroundComparable estimates of health spending are crucial for the assessment of health systems and to optimally deploy health resources. The methods used to track health spending continue to evolve, but little is known about the distribution of spending across diseases. We developed improved estimates of health spending by source, including development assistance for health, and, for the first time, estimated HIV/AIDS spending on prevention and treatment and by source of funding, for 188 countries.MethodsWe collected published data on domestic health spending, from 1995 to 2015, from a diverse set of international agencies. We tracked development assistance for health from 1990 to 2017. We also extracted 5385 datapoints about HIV/AIDS spending, between 2000 and 2015, from online databases, country reports, and proposals submitted to multilateral organisations. We used spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression to generate complete and comparable estimates for health and HIV/AIDS spending. We report most estimates in 2017 purchasing-power parity-adjusted dollars and adjust all estimates for the effect of inflation.FindingsBetween 1995 and 2015, global health spending per capita grew at an annualised rate of 3·1% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1 to 3·2), with growth being largest in upper-middle-income countries (5·4% per capita [UI 5·3-5·5]) and lower-middle-income countries (4·2% per capita [4·2-4·3]). In 2015, $9·7 trillion (9·7 trillion to 9·8 trillion) was spent on health worldwide. High-income countries spent $6·5 trillion (6·4 trillion to 6·5 trillion) or 66·3% (66·0 to 66·5) of the total in 2015, whereas low-income countries spent $70·3 billion (69·3 billion to 71·3 billion) or 0·7% (0·7 to 0·7). Between 1990 and 2017, development assistance for health increased by 394·7% ($29·9 billion), with an estimated $37·4 billion of development assistance being disbursed for health in 2017, of which $9·1 billion (24·2%) targeted HIV/AIDS. Between 2000 and 2015, $562·6 billion (531·1 billion to 621·9 billion) was spent on HIV/AIDS worldwide. Governments financed 57·6% (52·0 to 60·8) of that total. Global HIV/AIDS spending peaked at 49·7 billion (46·2-54·7) in 2013, decreasing to $48·9 billion (45·2 billion to 54·2 billion) in 2015. That year, low-income and lower-middle-income countries represented 74·6% of all HIV/AIDS disability-adjusted life-years, but just 36·6% (34·4 to 38·7) of total HIV/AIDS spending. In 2015, $9·3 billion (8·5 billion to 10·4 billion) or 19·0% (17·6 to 20·6) of HIV/AIDS financing was spent on prevention, and $27·3 billion (24·5 billion to 31·1 billion) or 55·8% (53·3 to 57·9) was dedicated to care and treatment.InterpretationFrom 1995 to 2015, total health spending increased worldwide, with the fastest per capita growth in middle-income countries. While these national disparities are relatively well known, low-income countries spent less per person on health and HIV/AIDS than did high-income and middle-income countries. Furthermore, declines in development assistance for health continue, including for HIV/AIDS. Additional cuts to development assistance could hasten this decline, and risk slowing progress towards global and national goals.FundingThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Project description:We present a comprehensive gridded GDP per capita dataset downscaled to the admin 2 level (43,501 units) covering 1990-2022. It updates existing outdated datasets, which use reported subnational data only up to 2010. Our dataset, which is based on reported subnational GDP per capita data from 89 countries and 2,708 administrative units, employs various novel methods for extrapolation and downscaling. Downscaling with machine learning algorithms showed high performance (R2 = 0.79 for cross-validation, R2 = 0.80 for the test dataset) and accuracy against reported datasets (Pearson R = 0.88). The dataset includes reported and downscaled annual data (1990-2022) for three administrative levels: 0 (national; reported data for 237 administrative units), 1 (provincial; reported data for 2,708 administrative units for 89 countries), and 2 (municipality; downscaled data for 43,501 administrative units). The dataset has a higher spatial resolution and wider temporal range than the existing data do and will thus contribute to global or regional spatial analyses such as socioenvironmental modelling and economic resilience evaluation. The data are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10976733 .
Project description:ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between vaccination rates and excess mortality during distinct waves of SARS-CoV-2 variant-specific infections, while considering a state's GDP per capita.MethodsWe ranked U.S. states by vaccination rates and GDP and employed the CDC's excess mortality model for regression and odds ratio analysis.ResultsRegression analysis reveals that both vaccination and GDP are significant factors related to mortality when considering the entire U.S. population. Notably, in wealthier states (with GDP above $65,000), excess mortality is primarily driven by slow vaccination rates, while in less affluent states, low GDP plays a major role. Odds ratio analysis demonstrates an almost twofold increase in mortality linked to the Delta and Omicron BA.1 virus variants in states with the slowest vaccination rates compared to those with the fastest (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.7-1.9, p < 0.01). However, this gap disappeared in the post-Omicron BA.1 period.ConclusionThe interplay between slow vaccination and low GDP per capita drives high mortality.
Project description:This study aimed to explore the association between the GDP of various countries and the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations; to explore how the global pattern holds in the continents, and investigate the spatial distribution pattern of COVID-19 vaccination progress for all countries. We have used consolidated data on COVID-19 vaccination and GDP from Our World in Data, an open-access data source. Data analysis and visualization were performed in R-Studio. There was a strong linear association between per capita income and the proportion of people vaccinated in countries with populations of one million or more. GDP per capita accounts for a 50% variation in the vaccination rate across the nations. Our assessments revealed that the global pattern holds in every continent. Rich European and North-American countries are most protected against COVID-19. Less developed African countries barely initiated a vaccination program. There is a significant disparity among Asian countries. The security of wealthier nations (vaccinated their citizens) cannot be guaranteed unless adequate vaccination covers the less affluent countries. Therefore, the global community should undertake initiatives to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination program in all countries of the world, irrespective of their wealth.