Money, Medicine & Life Expectancy

Introduction

Using WHO and World Bank data for 20 countries, these three charts argue that wealth predicts life expectancy up to a point — but above ~$15,000 GDP per capita, how healthcare is spent matters more than how much.

§ 01 — Original Dataset
Country Region Life Exp. (yrs) GDP per Capita (USD) Health Spend (% GDP) Physicians per 1,000 Under-5 Mortality (per 1,000) Income Group
§ 02 — Chart 1: The Wealth–Longevity Curve
Life Expectancy vs. GDP per Capita
Bubble size = health spending (% of GDP) · 20 countries · 2022

"Wealth buys years — but with diminishing returns."

Going from $500 to $15,000 GDP per capita adds roughly 15–20 years of life expectancy. But above that threshold, the curve flattens — the U.S. spends more than any country here yet trails Japan and Spain by several years.

§ 03 — Chart 2: Regional Life Expectancy Profiles
Life Expectancy by Country
Grouped by income tier · Horizontal bar · Sorted descending

"Same income tier, different outcomes."

Income group predicts the general range, but not the rank. Cuba — classified upper-middle income — matches many high-income nations thanks to its physician-heavy primary care system. Japan and the U.S. share the same income label but differ by 5 years.

§ 04 — Chart 3: The Child Mortality–Longevity Link
Under-5 Mortality vs. Life Expectancy
Each point = 1 country · Color = income group · 2022

"Child survival is the strongest predictor of how long everyone lives."

Under-5 mortality has the tightest correlation with life expectancy in this dataset. Where child death rates are high, the entire population lives shorter lives — not just mathematically, but because the same systemic failures (poor vaccination, nutrition, and care access) affect adults too.