# Oxford and Texas A&M study links more generous welfare regimes to longer life expectancy across countries

- Published: 2026-11-07 19:18 UTC
- Section: Science › Research
- Tags: welfare regimes and longevity, life expectancy inequality, maternal mortality and welfare, Transformation Index, Social Indicators Research, healthy life years, cross-national panel study, University of Oxford, Texas A&M University
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-bf6b02da6c4e8c5b9b88ae96_oxford_and_texas/

**Panel data on countries at different income levels show that higher welfare-regime scores go with longer life expectancy and lower maternal mortality; the authors do not claim causation.**

![Oxford and Texas A&M study links more generous welfare regimes to longer life expectancy across countries](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/f5561ec164bac071.jpg)
*gigazine.net*

A research team from the University of Oxford, Texas A&M University and other institutions examined how the generosity of welfare regimes relates to longevity in countries at different levels of development. The paper was published in Social Indicators Research. The authors described global trends for 1990–2023 and then tested the relationship with pooled panel models and two-way fixed effects for 2006–2022. They report that more generous welfare regimes are associated with higher levels of the quantity of life overall. [1]

## Data and method

The authors note that earlier work concentrated on high-income OECD countries and on subjective well-being. Here the outcomes are objective: life expectancy at birth, healthy life years, maternal mortality and life expectancy inequality, meaning the spread of ages at death within a population. [1]

Welfare generosity was measured with the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Transformation Index, which scores countries from 1 to 10. The score reflects social safety nets, equality of opportunity and the institutional capacity to reduce socioeconomic risk; a higher score means a more generous system. The models controlled for GDP per capita, unemployment, public health spending relative to population and the share of the working-age population.

## Results by country

A higher index score was consistently associated with longer life expectancy, and this held when men and women were analysed separately. A higher score was also associated with smaller life expectancy inequality. In the pooled multi-country models, a one-point rise in the score corresponded to roughly 17% lower maternal mortality. [1]

The authors also looked at countries whose scores changed sharply between 2006 and 2022. In six countries where the score rose by 2 points or more (Algeria, Angola, Bhutan, Kenya, Liberia and Uganda), life expectancy and healthy life years increased. Maternal mortality and life expectancy inequality also improved markedly. In Angola, life expectancy rose by more than 22 years. [1]

In Libya, where the score fell by 4.5 points, healthy life years shortened, maternal mortality rose and life expectancy inequality widened. Syria's score fell by 3.5 points over the same period, yet life expectancy and maternal mortality improved slightly. The authors conclude that a decline in welfare provision does not always produce an immediate effect.

The authors stress that the results show an association, not causation. Despite the controls, country-specific social and political factors that the analysis could not capture may also play a role.

## Sources

1. [Social Indicators Research](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-026-03912-x)
2. [gigazine.net](https://gigazine.net/news/20261107-social-safety-nets-longer-lives)

---

Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-bf6b02da6c4e8c5b9b88ae96_oxford_and_texas/