Life expectancy at birth, or the average number of years a newborn infant would be expected to live if health and living conditions remain the same, is a standard indicator for the level of socio-economic development. In countries like Japan and Switzerland, people can expect to live till around 82 years while in Zimbabwe and Afghanistan life expectancy at birth is less than 45 years.
In India there has been a continuous rise in the life expectancy at birth over the years. Indian males who could be expected to live to the age of 32.5 years in 1951 can now expect an average life of 62.6 years. Female life expectancy has risen from 31.7 years to 64.2 years over the same period. Yet, according to 2008 World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, India ranks 133rd out of 193 countries; the life expectancy at birth at 64.3 years is marginally lower than Bangladesh (64.7 years) and higher than Nepal and Pakistan (63.4 years). China has achieved much more with life expectancy at 73.8 years.
As always, there are significant state differentials in India. Looking at the latest data for 2002-06 given by the Abridged Life Tables based on Sample Registration System (SRS) estimates, Kerala and Punjab rank at the top for both male and female life expectancy at birth. However, males in Kerala could expect to live on an average three years more than those in Punjab while the female life expectancy differential is six years. At third place for male life expectancy is Himachal Pradesh, while Maharashtra ranks third for female life expectancy. At the bottom are Orissa, Assam and Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh), where both males and females could expect to live for less than 60 years. (Click here for graph)
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Given an equal chance at birth, female life expectancy always exceeds that for males. Moreover, gender differential is, in general, higher in high-income countries, compared to low-income countries. For five decades from 1931 to 1981, female life expectancy in India was lower than that for males. Even now, though in most states the 2002-06 data show female life expectancy to be marginally higher than that for males, the highest differential of more than two years was in the southern and western states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. In the three undivided states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, life expectancy for women was lower than that for men, in variance with the norm. While these estimates pertain to the period 2002-06, later estimates may, of course, show an improved picture.
Clearly, different states have different issues to confront. For states like Kerala, rising life expectancy, a product of better health and living conditions, brings with it issues such as old-age care and security. Other states like Assam and Orissa have to raise the overall health situation. So, as the Madhya Pradesh State Planning Commission notes in its 2010 gender review of the status of women, the single fact that life expectancy for females is lower than males indicates the “deeper malaise responsible for the worse situation of women” in the state.
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Indian States Development Scorecard is a weekly feature by Indicus Analytics that focuses on the progress in India and the states across various socio-economic parameters