Mortality rate and life expectancy in Africa: the role of flood occurrence

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of flood occurrence on mortality rate and life expectancy amongst 53 African countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilizes panel data from the period 2000–2018 on 53 African countries and system generalized method of moments (system GMM) for the analysis.

Findings

The result indicates that flood occurrence causes the destruction of health facilities and the spread of diseases which reduces life expectancy. In addition, flood occurrence increases mortality rate amongst 53 African countries.

Research limitations/implications

Practical implications

The study recommends that governments amongst African countries should implement strategies being enshrined in Conference of Parties (COP, 2021) on climate change. This will help to reduce the level of climate change and flood occurrence.

Originality/value

Previous studies focussed on the adverse effect of flood occurrence without considering the issue of life expectancy amongst African countries. This study contributes to existing empirical studies by examining the effect of flood occurrence on mortality rate and life expectancy amongst African countries.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2022-0508.

Citation

Osei, B., Kunawotor, M.E. and Appiah-Konadu, P. (2023), "Mortality rate and life expectancy in Africa: the role of flood occurrence", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 50 No. 7, pp. 910-924. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-07-2022-0508