The Assessment of Health Care System Performance based on the Variation of Life Expectancy

The performance of health care systems can be assessed through specific outcomes such as life expectancy. In the paper we aim to identify significant differences over time in life expectancy of world countries. We analyse a sample of 193 countries grouped by income level and by geographic region. The results show that life expectancy increased in the last two decades, although there are important variation among countries. These findings highlight that health policy-makers should be concerned with regional features of health systems and the need for convergence of health systems goals.