Democratic Systems Of Government Help Improve Public Health More Than Autocracies, Study Shows

Bloomberg: Democracies Top Dictatorships for Public Health, New Study Finds
“People lived longer in countries that became democracies from 1970 to 2015, and that system of government played a bigger role in public health than economic performance, according to a report published in The Lancet. The report, published Wednesday, found that democratic governance is associated with declines in ‘cardiovascular disease mortality and road deaths, as well as increases in government health spending,’ boosting life expectancy by an average of three percent after 10 years…” (Tanzi, 3/13).

U.S. News & World Report: Democracy Tied to Improving Health, Study Finds
“…The research focused on low- and middle-income countries and may change how policymakers approach improving the health of their nation’s citizens. ‘The results of this study suggest that elections and the health of the people are increasingly inseparable,’ Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations and who led the research, said in a prepared statement. The study was carried out by six researchers at four institutions: the Council on Foreign Relations, Stanford University’s School of Medicine, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) — all in the U.S. — and Bilkent University in Turkey…” (Radu, 3/13).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.