Key finding
National life expectancy at birth varies by roughly a decade across upper-middle vs high-income countries (WHO 2023 estimates); healthcare access and quality are the primary drivers of that gap
Evidence & causal status
Limited — ecological/country-level statistic, not an individual mortality study
Ecological/population-level association only — no study directly measures individual mortality risk for people who relocate for retirement
Caveats & limitations
Reliability / bias notes: Expatriates and financially-resourced retirees often access better care than local population averages suggest, so this factor is treated as a small, precautionary adjustment rather than a well-evidenced individual risk factor
This describes a population-level association from published research. It is not a prediction about any one individual, and association is not the same as causation unless stated otherwise above.