Determinants of IMR: A Panel Study on Emerging Economies

This study examines the determinants of health status in fifteen emerging economies across five world regions, classified by income sub-groups. Using infant mortality rate (IMR) as a health indicator, data from 2000–2019 were obtained from the World Development Indicators . A panel fixed effects regression model was employed to assess the influence of GDP per capita , unemployment rate , and per capita government health expenditure on IMR. Results show that both GDP per capita and government health expenditure significantly reduce IMR, highlighting that economic growth and increased public health spending improve child health outcomes. Although, there is no significant effect of unemployment rate on IMR. The presence of significant cross-sectional effects validates the use of a fixed effects model over a constant-coefficients specification. The findings underscore the need for emerging economies to strengthen economic performance and public investment in health to achieve sustainable improvements in child health. JEL Codes: I15, O47, C33