Analyzing the Relationship between Economic Growth, Environmental Quality and Public Health in OPEC Member States: A Panel Data Approach

Public health has always been one of the main concerns of policy makers in different countries, while the speed of economic growth that has led to an increase in emissions of polluting the environment has added to this issue. OPEC member countries are turning to the expansion of the industry based on their oil revenues, which has added to the problems caused by degradation of environmental quality and the level of public health. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between economic growth, environmental quality and general health in OPEC member countries, which is estimated using panel models for the years 2016-2000. The results of estimating economic growth models, environmental quality and public health among OPEC members showed that increased economic growth does not improve the environment and there are no conditions for accepting the Kuznets environmental hypothesis. Increasing and improving the accumulation of per capita capital, urbanization rates, public health and education will increase economic growth. In the health sector, promoting health education and increasing the share of per capita health expenditure and reducing CO 2 emissions will improve public health. Therefore, it is recommended that the national development models of the member states contribute to the sustainability of oil revenues in all sectors of the economy.