Factors Explaining Life Expectancy at Age 65: A Panel Data Approach Applied to European Union Countries

The aim of this paper is to explain the determinants of longevity in 20 European Union countries for which comparable data are available for the period 1990–2016. We use a health equation to explain life expectancy at age 65 for total population considering socioeconomic factors, population structure, health resources, lifestyles and environment as the main determinants of health status. Panel estimation techniques are implemented to estimate the health equation with lagged explanatory variables to attenuate the endogeneity problems of regressors. Our evidence shows that per capita income, education and pharmaceutical expenditures positively affect life expectancy at the age of 65. As expected, risky lifestyles and air pollution have a significant negative impact on health. The interaction between population age structure and pharmaceutical expenditures proves also to be important for explaining longevity. Our evidence reinforces the idea that investing in education and health care provision is the way to achieve healthier longevity allowing a more active participation of the elderly in society.