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Abstract
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Introduction
Economic valuation of the health benefits of active transport modes (such as walking and cycling) is an important means of incentivising changes in transport and land-use policy that better support human health. However, existing valuation methods do not adequately examine how these benefits might vary within a population. Using data from New Zealand, we investigate the extent to which active transport health benefit valuations vary by age and ethnicity.
Methods
We extended a health benefit valuation method used by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to value the health benefits of walking and cycling, stratified by age and ethnicity.
Results
Walking was estimated to have a health benefit of $1.00 per kilometre (New Zealand dollars) for those aged 15-64 years but a benefit of $5.79/km for those aged 65-74 years old. For cycling the health benefits were $0.50/km and $2.90/km respectively. Among people aged 15-64 years, the health benefits of walking were $1.75/km for Māori (New Zealand's indigenous people) and $0.88/km for non-Māori. The equivalent values for cycling were $0.87/km and $0.44/km respectively. There was a greater difference in health benefit by age for Māori ($1.75/km vs $15.12/km of walking for the 15-64 and 65-74 age groups respectively) than for non-Māori ($0.88/km vs $5.11/km of walking for the 15-64 and 65-74 age groups respectively).
Conclusions
The estimated health benefits of active transport are not evenly distributed within the New Zealand population but vary by age and ethnicity. Improvements to the efficiency and equity of active transport investment could potentially be made by taking account of variations in health status within the population.
Language: en |