Socio-economic, demographic and health determinants of the coronavirus pandemic: Analysis of data from OECD countries

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of this study was to examine the socio-economic, demographic and health determinants affecting the number of coronavirus cases, the number of coronavirus deaths, case fatality rates per 1,000 cases and coronavirus deaths per 1,000,000 population in OECD countries. Methods: The study was undertaken using 20 different independent variables and 4 different dependent variables, which were all obtained from the OECD and WHO databases. The study utilizes multiple linear regression statistical techniques to reveal the socio-economic, demographic and health determinants of the coronavirus pandemic. Results: The findings of the study show that higher shares of current expenditure on health in GDP, higher prevalence of obesity among adults, higher percentage of raised blood glucose levels among adults and the stringency index (which indicates the extent of the measures taken by the government related with the coronavirus outbreak) are influential on both the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in OECD countries. Increased case fatality rates seem to be closely related to the stringency index, higher share of current expenditure on health in GDP and higher percentage of tobacco users among adults in OECD countries. On the other hand, factors such as the stringency index, higher life expectancy at birth, higher use of tobacco and higher share of current expenditure on health in GDP are effective on the coronavirus death rate per 1,000,000 population. Conclusions: The demographic, economic, political and health factors that determine the current number of coronavirus cases and deaths indicate that the pandemic as a public health problem cannot be eliminated only with health interventions and that multi-dimensional policies are needed.