Subjective Health: Cross-cultural Analysis

This work is dedicated to the cross-cultural analysis of subjective health assessments. The goal of the current study is to reveal the relationship between subjective health assessments and individual- and county- level factors (such as GDP per capita, national expenditure on health and the Environmental Performance Index). To achieve the aim of this research the multilevel regression modeling was applied, based on ISSP 2011: Health and Health Care cross-national database. Residents of 31 countries at the age of 18 and older represent the empirical object of the study. In result, there were identified factors, which influence the subjective health assessment at the individual (micro) level, discovered factors that affect subjective health estimation at the country (macro) level, and confirmed the close relationship, existing between subjective assessments and more objective health indicators. As we have seen, subjective health of the individual is tightly related, not only with his physical condition, but also is mediated by a large complex of various social and cultural factors.