Revision as of 22:40, 12 June 2018

Changes over the years

1901- 2011

Life expectancy in India, 1901- 2011
From Bagsmrita Bhagawati and Labananda Choudhury, Generation Life Table for India, 1901-1951

See graphic, ' Life expectancy in India, 1901- 2011 '

1901- 1976

Life expectancy in India, 1901- 1976
From Bagsmrita Bhagawati and Labananda Choudhury, Generation Life Table for India, 1901-1951

See graphic, ' Life expectancy in India, 1901- 1976 '

1986- 2011

Life expectancy in India, 1986- 2011
From Bagsmrita Bhagawati and Labananda Choudhury, Generation Life Table for India, 1901-1951

See graphic, ' Life expectancy in India, 1986- 2011 '

1990–2013: 8.6 years added

The Times of India

December 18, 2014

Life expectancy at Birth, India, 2005-14; The Times of India, Jan 28, 2017

One of the Best gains worldwide: The Lancet

Every fifth death in the world is that of an Indian, but Indians are also living at least 8.6 years longer on an average than in 1990, one of the best gains worldwide in life expectancy. In 2013, heart, lung or brain problems caused a third of all mortality in the country. Suicides, road traffic accidents and lifestyle disease diabetes have now muscled into the top 10 killers' list. Tuberculosis and heart diseases are the largest killers of Indians in the most productive age group of 15 to 49 years, says the first country-specific cause-of-death data for 188 countries published in The Lancet on

A comparison of the data from 1990 and 2013 showed that heart diseases and stroke have increased their death grip on Indians, but TB and pneumonia are no longer the top killers. “It is good news for India that the death share (26%) of the three major infectious diseases --tuberculosis (9%), pneumonia (9%) and diarrhoea (8%) -has reduced by 50% during the last 23 years,“ said Kaushalendra Kumar, one of the co-authors from the International Institute for Population Sciences in Deonar.

Another co-author Dr Nobhojit Roy , professor at BARC Hospital in Chembur, concurred. “India is going through an epidemiological transition with communicable diseases going down and non-communicable diseases going up. Diseases like malaria and HIV are down and lifestyle-related diseases such as heart diseases and hypertension are going up. The biggest indicator of India's relative better health is the rise in life expectancy.“Life expectancy improved for both men (64.2 years) and women (68.5 years) in India, at an average of 8.6 years gained since 1990. This was a larger increase than the global aver age, and one of the top 25 biggest gains in life expectancy worldwide, said the report.

The global report, coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said people live longer worldwide than they did two decades ago as death rates from infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease have fallen.

Since 1990, India saw marked declines in mortality from a number of diseases that used to take a large toll on the country . For instance, by 2013, mortality from diarrhoeal diseases reduced by 42%. In 1990, pneumonia and diarrhoeal diseases killed 15,32,459 people.Twenty-three years later, they claimed 7,15,303 fewer lives.

India, however, came in for a bit of criticism for poor health records while neighbouring China won praise for providing detailed reports.“India has to spend on research and surveillance. If you don't know what is killing people, how will you plan a health programme to check it?“ asked Dr Roy .

“All our policies and programmes are based on virtually no data and, therefore, it is difficult to measure effects of policy interventions or initiate effective programmes,“ said Kumar.

2017, life expectancy level

See graphic: Life expectancy, as in August 2017

Life expectancy, as in August 2017; The Times of India, August 14, 2017

Life expectancy, state-wise

1990-2016

Bindu Shajan Perappadan, Indians add more years to their lives, November 15, 2017: The Hindu

See graphic:

Life expectancy at birth, 1990-2016, state-wise

Life expectancy at birth, 1990-2016, state-wise
From: Bindu Shajan Perappadan, Indians add more years to their lives, November 15, 2017: The Hindu

But new report on disease burden maps severe inequalities among States

A first-of-its kind report on the ‘India State-Level Disease Burden,’ has revealed severe inequalities in the disease burden in different States.

For instance, life expectancy at birth in the country improved significantly during 1990 to 2016 — from 59.7 years and 58.3 years for females and males respectively in 1990 to 70.3 years for females and 66.9 years for males in 2016.

But in a measure of the continuing inequalities, the life expectancy for females in Uttar Pradesh was 66.8 years — below the national average and 12 years less than in Kerala, where it was 78.7 years.

Again, men in Kerala enjoyed a life expectancy of 73.8 years, but the corresponding figure for men in Assam was 63.6 years.

The study found that while under-5 mortality was improving in every State, there was a four-fold difference in the rate of improvement among States, which again indicated health inequalities.

“The per person burden from many of the leading infectious and non-communicable diseases varies 5-10 times between different States and malnutrition continues to be the single largest risk for health loss in India, which is higher among females and is particularly severe in the empowered action group States [Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand] and Assam,” noted the report.

The report was prepared under the India State-level Disease Burden Initiative, a joint project between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The report’s findings were published in the journal Lancet

2011-15: Life expectancy at birth and after 60 years

Life expectancy in 2011-15
i) at birth, and
ii) after 60 years.
From: February 3, 2018: The Times of India

Correlation between life expectancy in (2011-15) and
i) total fertility rate, and ii) size of family
From: February 3, 2018: The Times of India

See graphics:

1) Life expectancy in 2011-15
i) at birth, and
ii) after 60 years.

2) Correlation between life expectancy in (2011-15) and
i) total fertility rate, and ii) size of family

Life Expectancy at birth, after 60

2010-14, state-wise

Subodh Varma, J&K tops post-60 life expectancy list, Oct 27 2016 : The Times of India

Table 1: Life expectancy after 60, the 5 best and 5 worst states, 2010-14

Table 2: Life expectancy at birth, the 5 best and 5 worst states, 2010-14. The national average is compared with 1970-75.

Table 3 combines Tables 1 and 2 and adds the following details:
i) The actual number of years that the average resident of the 5 best states lived after 60, presumably in the same 2010-14 period, and
ii) Life expectancy in the 5 best countries in 2014.
The Times of India

How long will an Indian live after 60? It de pends on which state you live in. Post-60 life expectancy is highest in a state you would least expect -J&K. People of this state who are 60 years old will live for another 21.1 years on an average. At the other extreme is Chhattisgarh, where such life span is 15.6 years.On an average, in India, a man will live for another 17 years and a woman for 19 years after turning 60.

These facets of life and death across all states, and over the years, emerge from recently released `Life Tables' whi ch showcase yearly mortality data collected from a sample of about 7.4 million people across the country. This work is done by the Sample Registration System (SRS) under the Census office. The most recent data is from 2010-2014. Life expectancy can be calculated at birth or at various points in life. `At birth' calculations average out death rates at all subsequent ages.This is usually said to be life expectancy of people in any country or a state within a country ,“ demographer P M Kulkarni, formerly of JNU, said.

In 1970-75, people's average lifespan in India was just 49.7 years. By 2010-14, it had increased to 67.9 years, an increase of 18.2 years. Another change that has taken place is that women are now living longer than men. Four decades ago, men's average lifespan was 50.5 years compared to 49 years for women. This reversed in the mid-eighties and currently women's life expectancy stands at 69.6, almost three years more than men. Women living longer than men is a global trend attributed to higher death rates in men, being more exposed to health risks. Kerala, with its low infant mortality , higher incomes, higher education levels and better health indicators, has the highest lifespan of 74.9 years among all states. Closely following it are Delhi, J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab. Lowest lifespans are in Assam, followed by UP, MP, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Beyond the age of five years, J&K emerges as the state with highest lifespan for every five-year age group except the over 70 years group. According to experts, not too bad poverty levels (15% compared to India's average of about 30%), more equitable land ownership and the temperate climate in Kashmir valley that is less conducive for tropical diseases and pollution may have created conditions for this higher lifespan.

But why is there a difference between J&K's average life expectancy at birth (72.6) and life expectancy at 60 years age (81.1 years)? This is due to higher infant mortality rate, which is in turn dependent on how good are delivery and infant health care services. J&K's infant death rate was 37 per 1000 live births in 2013; the same as Jharkhand and only slightly below the national average of 40. “Once a child survives the first year, and then the first five years, conditions for survival and longer life spans improve considerably ,“ Kulkarni said.

2011: the best and worst states

See graphic : Life expectancy in the Indian states. The best and worst states in 2011

Life expectancy in the Indian states, the best and worst states in 2011; The Times of India, August 7, 2017

Trends

Longer life but burdened with illness

The Times of India, Jun 09 2015

Disease burden, 1990-2013; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Jun 09 2015

Sushmi Dey

Indians live longer, but spend more time with illnesses

While people across the globe are living longer, they are spending more time recovering from sickness. The reasons are non-fatal illnesses and injuries such as diabetes and hearing loss which pose the next major threat in terms of disease burden, says the latest study by a consortium of international researchers. In India, diabetes and other musculoskeletal disorders have replaced diarrheal diseases and vision problems as leading causes of years lived with disability (YLDs) a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health.

Between 1990 and 2013, years lived with disability among women with diabetes increased by 109%, whereas from other musculoskeletal disorders increased by 110% in India.However, iron-deficiency anemia decreased by 12%.Diabetes YLDs also increased for men in India be tween 1990 and 2013, climbing 136%. Among men, YLDs from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increased by 76%, and iron-deficiency anemia YLDs decreased by 32%.

The study says countries around the world may have made significant progress in addressing fatal diseases, but globally the years lived by people with disability increased from 537.6 million in 1990 to 764.8 million in 2013, for both sexes.

The study was conducted by researchers working on the Global Burden of Disease project and led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washing ton. It was published in The Lancet on June 8.

“With success in delaying death, the years of life lived with ill-health are increasing. For example, this has more than doubled in India for diabetes over the past two decades. Accurate understanding of the causes of ill-health is crucial for planning of appropriate health services,“ Lalit Dandona, study co-author and professor at Public Health Foundation of India said.

Apart from diabetes, migraines, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), neck pain, anxiety disorder and hearing loss were among the 10 leading causes of YLDs in 2013.

See also

Life Expectancy: India

Life Expectancy: South Asia