| A cross-sectional ecological study is undertaken to test the hypothesis whether, currently and internationally, there is an association between income disparity within nations and the health status of the respective national populations. Prior studies involving data from developed nations are discussed. In order to extend their findings across as many nations as possible, available disparity data from 110 developing and developed nations is gathered from published reports of the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Using the per capita Gross Domestic Product and the Gini index as primary independent variables and Life Expectancy, Infant Mortality Rate and Total Fertility Rate as the dependent variables, simple and multiple regressions are performed. Even accounting for absolute income, represented by the GDP per capita, the income inequality, represented by the Gini index, has a statistically significant contribution to the final multiple regression model. |
