Download This PaperCOVID-19: The Impact of Socio-Economic Characteristics on the Fatality Rate
26 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2023 Last revised: 26 Oct 2023
Date Written: May 3, 2020
Abstract
In this paper, the fatality rate from COVID-19 is analyzed and how a country’s socio-economic characteristics influence this fatality rate because particular groups in society have a higher probability of succumbing to the new virus. A Poisson regression with average marginal effects estimates the relationship between a country’s daily death rate from COVID-19 and the number of positive test cases after controlling for a country’s socio-economic characteristics using data from 28 to 207 countries. The most crucial factor in reducing the fatality rate from COVID-19 is the number of medical doctors per 1,000 people, while the total number of hospital beds per 1,000 people comes second. The unemployment rate raises the daily death rate the most because unemployed people do not have the financial means to access medical care and are stricken with more medical problems than employed people. The elderly and obesity come next, while current smokers and the urban dwellers raise the fatality rate the least.
Note: Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Keywords: COVID-19, global fatality rate, coronavirus, Poisson regression, urban dwellers, elderly, smokers
JEL Classification: I15, I18, C25
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation