Impact of Artificial Intelligence, Health Expenditure and Digital Financial Inclusion on Life Expectancy

The Chinese government has actively promoted artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, with momentum building in 2016 through the Healthy China 2030 Initiative. This reform plan aims to modernize health care infrastructure, reduce the burden of chronic diseases, and expand access to medical services in rural areas using digital technologies such as AI. Health expenditure (HE) and digital financial inclusion (DFI) play a crucial role in improving health outcomes. HE improves access to medical services and the quality of care, while DFI allows individuals to afford health care, save for emergencies, and manage health-related financial risks. Therefore, this study examines the impact of AI, health expenditure and DFI on life expectancy (LE) in China from 2013Q1 to 2023Q4. This study employed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and quantile regression analyses to ensure the robustness of the results. The finding shows that gross domestic product (GDP), AI, health expenditure, DFI and government effectiveness have positive effect on LE. This study recommended that the government expand AI integration in health care to improve diagnostics and treatment efficiency. It also emphasized promoting DFI to help low-income groups access health care and manage medical expenses. As well, the study suggested increasing public health expenditure to enhance health care infrastructure and service quality, ultimately improving LE.