Predicting Life Expectancy

Summary

How do health and socioeconomic factors influence life expectancy globally?
I used data compiled by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme, covering health and socioeconomic indicators for over 190 countries from 2000 to 2015. After cleaning and standardizing the data, I focused on comparing the effect of economic resources, education levels, and disease prevalence on national life expectancy.
I built a multiple linear regression model to predict life expectancy (measured in years), using factors such as adult mortality, HIV/AIDS prevalence, years of schooling, and national income levels. The model showed that higher income composition increased life expectancy by +10.8 years, while HIV/AIDS prevalence and adult mortality had negative effects of −0.44 and −0.02 years, respectively.
Income inequality and health interventions can shift life expectancy by more than a decade — and that gap may grow without investment in education and disease prevention.