Effects of the Human Development Index on COVID-19 Mortality Rates in High-Income Countries

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a huge loss of life and impaired public health worldwide. The finding that countries with high human development indices (HDIs) is associated with higher death rates during COVID-19 reported in earlier research is confusing. To clarify this significant problem, we explored the correlations and associations between the COVID-19 mortality rate and HDI based on updated data (until April 1, 2022) in 41 high-income countries across the world. The outcomes demonstrate: (a) a strong negative correlation between COVID-19 mortality rate and HDI; and (b) a significant (p = 0.013) negative association between COVID-19 mortality rate and HDI after controlling for health heterogeneities including aging population, full vaccination rate, GDP per capita, UHC, out-of-pocket burden, and stringency index. This paper concludes that reductions in the COVID-19 mortality rate depend to a great extent on the enhancement of human development capacity. Therefore, to better protect global public health, improving human development capacity should be a vital priority for all countries, whether in the present or in the future.