Life expectancy in India goes up by 5 years in a decade

CHENNAI: If your child was born in the last couple of years, he or she is likely to live five years more than children born a decade ago.

Statistics released by the Union ministry of health and family welfare show that life expectancy in India has gone up by five years, from 62.3 years for males and 63.9 years for females in 2001-2005 to 67.3 years and 69.6 years respectively in 2011-2015. Experts attribute this jump — higher than that in the previous decade — to better immunization and nutrition, coupled with prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

The World Health Organization defines life expectancy as "the average number of years a person is expected to live on the basis of the current mortality rates and prevalence distribution of health states in a population". In India, average life expectancy which used to be around 42 in 1960, steadily climbed to around 48 in 1980, 58.5 in 1990 and around 62s in 2000.

The overall health indicators have also shown significant improvement across the country in the past 10 years. Infant mortality ratio has come down to 42 in 2012 from 58 per 1,000 live births in the 2005. "Maternal mortality ratio has declined from 301 per 100,000 live births in 2001-03 to 212 in 2007-09," the health ministry said.

"A steady supply of food is the prime reason for increased life expectancy," says Dr George Thomas, editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. Since the time of Independence, famine has reduced dramatically in our country and people have a decent supply of nutrition. However, the real challenge lies in taking the numbers beyond this."



Disease control

Thomas pointed out that increasing life expectancy beyond 70 years would depend on environmental factors. "Supply of clean drinking water and better control of non-communicable diseases would play a major role. However, India is still grappling with communicable diseases," he said.

Dr S Balasubramanian, joint director of Tamil Nadu public health, said the increase shows health policies are in the right direction. "Earlier, people had more children, and the chances of all the kids getting a balanced diet were low. Family planning has helped. Childhood vaccination has checked epidemics and saved lives," he said. Life-threatening diseases like diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough have been eliminated completely. "India has also been recently declared a polio free nation, which is an added feather to the cap," he said.

Some experts still advocate caution. "With increased life expectancy, the disease burden would increase," said geriatrician Dr B Krishnaswamy. "Yes, we will live longer, but the big question is how healthy our lives would be," he said.