Life Expectancy

In News

• India’s life expectancy at birth inched up to 69.7 in the 2015-19 period, well below the estimated global average life expectancy of 72.6 years. 
  • It has taken almost ten years to add two years to life expectancy. 

Major Points 

• Data shows that the gap between life expectancy at birth and life expectancy at age one or age five is the biggest in states with the highest infant mortality (IMR), Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. 
  • In Uttar Pradesh, with the second highest IMR of 38, life expectancy jumps the highest, by 3.4 years, on completion of the first year. 

• Over a 45-year period, India had added about 20 years to its life expectancy at birth from 49.7 in 1970-75 to 69.7 by 2015-19. 
  • Odisha has had the highest increase, of over 24 years, from 45.7 to 69.8 years followed by Tamil Nadu, where it increased from 49.6 to 72.6. 

• Within India, there are huge variations across states and between urban and rural areas.
  • Urban women in Himachal Pradesh had the highest life expectancy at birth of 82.3 years while at the other end, rural men in Chhattisgarh had the lowest, just 62.8 years, a gap of 15.8 years. 
• Comparison with neighbouring countries
  • In the neighbourhood, Bangladesh and Nepal, which had lower IMRs than India (24 compared to 28), now have higher life expectancy at birth of 72.1 and 70.5 respectively, according to the UN’s Human Development Report, 2019. 
  • Japan has the highest life expectancy of 85. Norway, Australia, Switzerland and Iceland had a life expectancy of 83. The Central African Republic had the lowest life expectancy of 54 followed by Lesotho and Chad at 55 in 2020.

Source :IE