Social and economic development opportunities in East Central Europe provided by increasing physical activity

Abstract

This paper examines social and economic development opportunities in East Central Europe provided by physical activity. The aims of the study are twofold. It analyzes, on the one hand, the relationship between physical activity, health status and socio-economic development and, on the other, the relevance of this relationship in the East Central European region. First, the paper explores the theoretical background regarding physical activity and health and the interplay between health and socio-economic development. It also discusses the concept of human capital and its contribution to economic growth, as many models consider only human capital’s educational aspects and neglect the role of health.

The study’s focal points are the East Central European population’s extremely low life expectancy and bad health state. According to the so-called health paradox in Central and Eastern Europe, the root of the mortality and morbidity crisis in transforming countries is not connected to economic performance but rather mental health conditions.

The article’s main section examines in detail the economic and social benefits realizable due to increase in physical activity. Such positive externalities include health status improvement, productivity growth and a lessening of the public budget burden.

I backed up my theoretical arguments with quantitative analysis demonstrating a positive correlation between physical activity and mental health and between physical activity and economic performance. Moreover, I also performed a cluster analysis and supplemented it with statistical tests to analyze sport’s embedded role in society. The results showed that countries where sport plays a significant role (measured by physical activity levels, by the proportion of people volunteering on sport events and by the degree of household’s sport and recreation related consumption) have better socio-economic indices (e.g. GDP per capita, human development index, mental health etc.) than those which do not, like in the East Central Europe region. We should not consider the potential benefits of physical activity increase in East Central Europe to be far-fetched, as the analysis shows that its current level is definitely low.

Finally, the study also examines the underlying reasons behind the lack of health consciousness and behind leisure sport’s bad position in the region. Accordingly, it also discusses the contrast between post-socialist countries’ outstanding success in professional sports and their low physical activity level combined with incentive problems due to lack of private health care