Hey! Are we living longer, yet sicker.? Life expectancy means the average number if years we may live. Read the study carefully or may be just to put it simpler is that the life expectancy might have gone up which means the quantity in number of years an average india lives, but what about the quality? Are we living longer with many chronic ( diseases that last long), like diabetes, hypertension etc? Dr nobhojit roy : states all our programmes are based on virtually no data and, therefore it is difficult to measure effects if POLICY interventions or initiate affective programmes.
READ MORE World Health Organization’s Health Statistics|Life Expectancy
At 65, Indian life expectancy up 8yrs since 1990
An average Indian lived 8 years longer in 2009, compared to two decades ago. But, figure still 3 years less than global average life expectancy.
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NEW DELHI: An average Indian (factoring in both genders) lived eight years longer in 2009, compared to two decades ago. However, that figure was still three years less than the global average life expectancy (LE).
An average Indian woman lived three years more than her male counterpart in 2009. While a woman lived for 66 years, the LE of an Indian man stood at 63 years. At the turn of the century, an Indian woman lived for 62 years while a man lived till 60.
According to the World Health Organization’s health statistics 2011, released late on Friday, an average Indian lived till 65 years in 2009. In comparison, an average Indian lived for 57 years in 1990 and 61 years in 2000.
Globally, the average life expectancy at birth stood at 68 years in 2009 — an increase by two years since 2000.
WHO said since 1990, LE has increased globally by 4 years (both sexes). However, during the 1990s, it stagnated in Europe and decreased in Africa.
Compared to an average Indian’s life expectancy in 2009, a Chinese (both sexes) lived nine years longer. The life expectancy of an average Chinese (both sexes) stood at 68 in 1990 which increased to 71 in 2000. In 2009, it stood at 74 years. An average Pakistani, however, lived two years less than an average Indian in 2009. The LE stood at 63 in Pakistan, 67 in Nepal, 70 in Thailand and 65 in Bangladesh.
WHO said life expectancy at birth reflected the overall mortality level of a population. It summarized the mortality pattern that prevailed across all age groups in a given year – children and adolescents, adults and the elderly.
“In 2009, life expectancy was 68 years, ranging from 57 years in low-income countries to 80 years in high-income countries, giving a ratio of 1.4 between the two income groups,” the report said.
LE estimates according to India’s health ministry, however, differ. According to the ministry’s latest projections, life expectancy at birth — the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year — of an Indian male will be 69.8 years in 2021 compared to 65.8 at present and 63.8 years in 2001.
In comparison, an Indian woman can expect to live to 72.3 years by 2021, compared to 68.1 now and 66.1 in 2001.
END YOUR ILLNESS 