Life expectancy refers to the projected average period of living among people within a particular region. It is a multifaceted phenomenon that mainly depends on the ability to improve certain variables such as healthcare services and governance. Although a country’s life expectancy determines the growth index, it is a matter that affects different entities within the nation. An excellent example is Canada’s high life expectancy rate despite the significant racial discrimination (Cahana, 2014). On the one hand, life expectancy provides the relative quality of living among individuals. On the other hand, life expectancy is a concept that hinders the focus on the distribution of resources across the country. Social class, ethnicity, and sexuality significantly influence the dynamic life expectancy rate based on the capacity to access adequate financial resources facilitating optimal living quotient.
Social Class
Social class difference is a vital influential factor for life expectancy mainly because of the steering factor to enhance accessibility to quality lifestyle essence. Primarily, researchers argue that the emergence of social classes fostered the marginalization of ethnic groups and communities over the decades (Librarian, 2013). Therefore, life expectancy is an index that articulates the average quality of living while overlooking the prominent factor of the distribution of resources. Notably, the government lacks adequate information to develop remedies and policies that steer proficiency in social-economic development. Ideally, the main approach that justifies the difference in life expectancy between the upper and lower social classes enshrines the difference in the surplus of financial resources to facilitate access to competent healthcare services and improved standards of living.
Individuals in the higher social class utilize surplus financial resources to live healthy life. In this case, the personnel prioritizes resources for frequent medical check-ups and the adoption of proper feeding habits. On the contrary, personnel living in lower social classes focus on the aspect of survival mainly because of the limited financial resources to facilitate frequent medical check-ups and adopt the balanced diet concept (Clarke, 2004). Primarily, life expectancy significantly affects a region’s social growth and development based on the proficiency to access medical services and adopt a healthy living quotient. The different measuring parameters determine the human development index that is indicative of economic development. Economic development reflects the quality of life among individuals within a region. However, the variables pose distinct strengths and weaknesses during the derivation of the results. Fundamentally, life expectancy is a crucial factor mainly because it plays the role of an equal distribution of resources indicator.
The income level contributes to the human development index mainly because of facilitating healthy living. Human evolution led to the rise in the cost of living. Therefore, the quality of living, such as the affordability of education fees and healthy foods, depends on income (Clarke, 2004). The advantage of utilizing income as a measuring parameter of development entails the contribution of economic activities in the distribution of wealth and health benefits to the population. However, the variable portrays a key weakness of social classification based on wealth distribution.
The main factor that determines the wealth of a nation is life expectancy. Life expectancy is the average age at which a higher percentage of the population dies in a country. The longevity dividend, mainly featured by the increase in the average life expectancy years, is an ideology that influences the dependency ratio. On the one hand, longer life expectancy reflects the sustainable distribution of resources and services such as healthcare, social security, and accessibility of adequate food. On the other hand, life expectancy shifts the paradigm from one point of quality of living to the essence of an increase in dependency ratio. The dependency ratio is the distribution of the working population in a nation against the population of the dependents. Research establishes that the lack of a balance projects a possible economic and social growth and development crisis (Angelina, 2014). A higher percentage of the workforce leads to significant productivity, while a higher percentage of dependents increases the consumption rate.
The quotation of age offers insight into the quality of life and healthcare services. As a result, the researcher further attains information regarding the distribution of resources across the demographic population (Clarke, 2004). As an indicator of demographic traits, life expectancy contributes to the development plan. It enhances the unlimited distribution of benefits to the citizens and the marginalization aspect ratio across the demography. However, life expectancy as an indicator of the impact of resources and benefits on the general population is a phenomenon with significant weakness.
Racialized Groups
The vital weakness of life expectancy depends on the geographical area and the availability of amenities among the racialized groups. Although the indicator provides a general insight into the health and longevity of life of a regional population, such amenities as healthcare centers highly affect the quality of the information (Clarke, 2004). The main reason that the geographical area affects the life expectancy value regards ethnic diversity and socio-cultural practices against the available amenities. Clarke (2004) articulates that one of the key milestones in medicine enshrined the intersection of distinct practices enhancing medical care among individuals, especially during birth and child care. The interplay of racialized groups, mainly the indigenous community, encountered prominent challenges in elevating care provision for pregnant women using modern-age healthcare services mainly because of imposed regulations. Nevertheless, the abolition of the Indian Act and implementation of Medicare laws fostered access to competent services.
Sexuality
The evolution of human society under the technological advancement gradient enhanced the quality of life. The way people die in modern society is different from the way people died in the previous century. One of the factors that fostered the change in the death rate figures is the advancement in healthcare provision and sexual orientation. In the last century, most women and children died from certain unmanageable and untreatable diseases at younger ages hence impacting life expectancy rates across gender boundaries. However, technological advancement enhanced solutions to such issues as treating and managing the spread of diseases and maternal care (Librarian, 2013). In modern society, an ill person gets prescribed a treatment plan that focuses on managing the symptoms. Therefore, people die based on the exhaustion of all options, such as cancer. Although cancer lacks a cure, healthcare practitioners prescribe a treatment management plan that involves x-rays, therapy, and medication. The cancer patient’s lifetime gets extended based on the progressive stage. Incorporating a dynamic healthcare system empowers society with an integrated solution to boost the quality and longevity of life.
References
Angelina, R. (2014). Is earth overpopulated? (BBC Documentary). Youtube.com.
Cahana, K. (2014). Kitra Cahan: My father, locked in his body but soaring free. Youtube.com.
Clarke, J. N. (2004). Health, illness, and medicine in Canada (No. Ed. 4). Oxford University Press.
Librarian, V. (2013). Theoretical Perspectives on The Sociology of Medicine Part 2. Youtube.com.