The aim of this master thesis is to analyze the influence of non-health factors on quality of life in member countries of the European Union. For the analysis, economic and developmental variables were used. The master thesis begins with analysis of life expectancy in the world due to quality of life directly affecting life expectancy. The next part is devoted to the analysis of the influence of GDP on quality of life and correlation between single dimensions of the Human Development Index. The Health index, Inequality-adjusted income index, Expenditure on public health and GNI per capita PPP were analyzed in order to illustrate their influence and importance in provision of quality of life. Unemployment of the age group 55+ and out-of-pocket spending were analyzed to demonstrate their influence on quality of life and life expectancy. Pension systems and retirement age were analyzed with connection to ageing of the population and fiscal problems arising from decreased fertility. Gender inequality is analyzed, drawing adverse consequences of a more equitable, but not a long-term oriented society. As a result of this master thesis, the conclusion was drawn in form of a Quality of life dilemma diagram. The diagram consists of all the variables analyzed in the master thesis displaying positive, negative and likely positive relationships between variables and quality of life. In the conclusion, the problem of sustainability of public finances, welfare state and competitiveness caused by longevity and low fertility affecting future quality of life in the European countries is summed up. The finding of this thesis is that quality of life is a very complex issue and in order to achieve a sustainable quality of life, all the variables have to be wisely governed. Short-term unbalanced improvements in quality of life will very likely retaliate in terms of deterioration of other variables in the future, pulling quality of life down.

This paper examines the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on health using the data of 61 countries between 2000 and 2009 from the World Bank. The ICT variables considered in this paper include internet, fixed phones, and mobile phones. Based on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations, we select several health variables and examine the impact of ICT on these variables. These variables include life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, and prevalence of HIV. The estimation strategies are the pooling OLS model, the fixed effect model, and the random effect model. The empirical results suggest that ICT indeed plays a significant role in improving the health level of a country. ICT effectively decreases infant mortality rates and children mortality rates, and also increases life expectancy. This finding supports the viewpoints of United Nations (UN), World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that ICT has great potential in improving a country¡¦s health. The finding also confirms the arguments of several literatures, including McNamara (2007) and Lucas (2008), that ICT can lead to a more effective health system. In addition, we also find that fixed phones and mobile phones, which have more powerful functions in communicating and have greater flexibility, help decrease deaths due to acute diseases or emergencies; while internet displays more profound impact on improving health with the accumulation of time. Our results suggest that adopting and promoting ICT is an effective way for developing countries and less-developed countries to enhance the level of health of people. We also expect that ICT can help these countries to meet at least part of the Millennium Development Goals.

Mortality in countries of Eastern and Southern Europe: trends and patterns Abstract The purpose of this thesis to is to evaluate any variances and commonality in the trends of mortality rates between southern and eastern Europe for the period beginning at the end of World War II (WWII) to present day. In order that the data used in the analysis of the populations of these two European regions is drawn from broad-based yet controlled demographic parameters, two countries from each region have been targeted. From southern Europe, Italy and Portugal, and from Eastern Europe Hungary and Bulgaria. The thesis will present both the analysis of data that relates to the development of the gross mortality rate together with that of more refined data that calculates the standardised mortality rate. A more in-depth analysis of mortality trends based on mortality tables and decomposition methods will also be presented using indicators of life expectancy at birth, infant mortality and life span, together with methods of decomposition of the difference between two demographic indicators (Kitagawy, R. Pressata, E. Arriagy and V. M. Shkolnikova). The conclusion of the analytical section deals with age variability at death. The hypotheses, set out in the introductory chapter, are evaluated at the end of the paper, based on...

The Environmental Kuznets Curve is an inverted U-shaped relationship which demonstrates how environmental degradation increases as countries begin to develop and lowers as they become wealthier. The classical EKC measures the effects of GDP per capita (a country’s wealth) on pollu-tion. This paper is a study of the connection of a number of factors- GDP per capita, fossil fuels, al-ternative and nuclear energy, rural population and life expectancy at birth to the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Two econometric approaches are applied in order to test whether the variables have a more pronounced linear or quadratic form. Four income groups of countries are investigated in order to check if the state of development plays a crucial role in environmental deterioration. The results of the study point out that EKC does not apply for the chosen variables. From the regression for GDP, however, it can be concluded that EKC forms in 1990s.

The specifics of Argentina in mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases in the context of Latin America Abstract This work deals with mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases in Argentina at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. During this period, there was a high level of mortality from infectious diseases in Argentina, which is not common in countries where an epidemiological transition has already taken place. This thesis tries to theoretically explain the higher level of mortality from infectious diseases by describing the situation of infectious diseases in the Latin American region. It deals with the course of the demographic revolution and the epidemiological transition in the Latin American region, which had a significant impact on changes in mortality and describes the development of the incidence of specific infectious diseases in Argentina. The theoretical part is followed by an analytical explanation of mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases using the resulting indicators of mortality tables and decomposition methods used in the work. The main aim of this work was to find out what influenced the high and almost constant level of mortality from infectious diseases in Argentina at the turn of the century. The analysis was also made for selected Latin American...