Indians have gained 10 years of life expectancy

New Delhi, Nov. 14: The Indian population has gained nearly a decade of life expectancy since 1990, but with vast inequalities between states, ranging from 66.8 years in Uttar Pradesh to 78.7 years in Kerala for women, according to study published on Tuesday in The Lancet Journal.

The study is the first comprehensive analysis of the health of India’s 1.34 billion citizens — encompassing almost a fifth of the world’s population. It estimates the key drivers of ill health, disability, and premature death in all 29 states, many of which have populations the size of large countries, and include people from over 2,000 different ethnic groups.

The researchers divided India’s states into four groups according to their level of development or epidemiological transition, using the ratio of illness and premature death caused by communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNDs) versus noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries as an indicator.

“Individual states in India are in different phases of epidemiological transition, and this has resulted in wide inequalities in the magnitude and progress against various diseases and their causes,” said Lalit Dandona, from the Public Health Foundation of India in Gurugram, who led the study.

The Indian population has gained nearly a decade of life expectancy since 1990, rising to 66.9 years in men and 70.3 years in women. However, there are wide inequalities between states, with life expectancy for women ranging from 66.8 years in Uttar Pradesh to 78.7 years in Kerala.

Progress has been mixed in health, with greater improvements in states at the most advanced phases of development (eg, Kerala and Goa), compared to those in the earlier stages (eg, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and several other poorer north Indian states).