National Human Development Report: 2001 - Indira Gandhi Institute ...

NATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2001 HEALTH ATTAINMENTS & DEMOGRAPHIC CONCERNS 69Besides the more commonly used life expectancy at birth, in thisReport, life expectancy has also been presented at age one. Often, when theinfant mortality rates are comparatively high, life expectancy at birth isinfluenced by that. As a result it may not adequately reflect the trends inadult mortality rates which may, in fact, run counter to the pattern ofinfant/child mortality. Moreover, with the success of immunisationprogrammes and rehydration therapy for diarrhoea in the developingcountries, the link between child mortality and mortality at other ages mayhave been further weakened. In addition, the indicator persons not expectedto survive beyond age 40 years, based on the life tables, has been presentedto reflect the deprivation aspect of longevity for use in the HPI.Life expectancy at birth has more than doubled in the last fifty years.It increased from around 30 years at the time of independence to over 60years in 1992-96. In the period 1970 to 1996, the life expectancy at birth, atthe national level improved from 49.7 years to 60.7 years as per the estimatesbased on the Sample Registration System (SRS), Registrar General of India.The increase in rural areas of 11.4 years outstripping the improvement inurban areas by 7.4 years. As a result, the rural-urban gap declined from 10.9years to 6.9 years. During the period life expectancy at birth for malesincreased from 50.5 years to 60.1 years, whereas in case of females it was from49 years to 61.4 years. Till about 1970s males, at the time of birth, wereexpected to live longer than the females. The trend has reversed since then.Though, the females outlived males in urban areas even in early 1970s, inrural areas this has happened only in 1990s.There are significant differences in life expectancy at birth acrossStates. In Kerala, a person at birth is expected to live for over 73 years (70years for males and 76 years for females), followed by Punjab at 67.4 years(66.4 years for males and 68.4 years for the females). On the other hand, lifeexpectancy at birth in Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh has been in the range of 55-60 years. Among the larger States,males are still expected to outlive the females in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. The rural-urban difference in life expectancy atbirth is less than a year in Kerala whereas, in Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradeshand Orissa this difference is around 8-10 years. For males it varies from 0.8year and 1.7 years for Kerala and Punjab respectively, at one end, to 8-9 yearsfor Assam and Madhya Pradesh on other. For females this difference is 1 and4 years respectively for Kerala and Punjab, whereas it is nearly 10 years forAssam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa in the upper end.Life Expectancy at age one, at the national level has improved from60.9 years to 64.9 years over the period 1981-85 and 1992-96. The increasein case of females was marginally more than that for males. In case of ruralareas this increase was from 59.6 years to 63.9 years, whereas for the urbanareas it was from 66.0 years to 68.9 years. Thus, there has been a decline inthe rural-urban gap in life expectancy at age one from 6.4 years to 5.0 yearsduring this period. At the State level, Kerala and Punjab have a lifeexpectancy at age one of over 70 years, while Assam, Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh and Orissa have less than 63 years. In comparison to lifeexpectancy at birth, where the difference between the best and the worstperforming States namely, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh was 15.1 years and21.1 years for males and females, respectively in 1992-96, the difference incase of life expectancy at age one is considerably less. In 1992-96, for lifeexpectancy at age one, the difference between the best and the worstLife Expentancy at Age One(Years)6965605569656055Gender Gap1981 1996Rural-Urban Gap1981 1996FemalesPersonsMalesUrbanCombinedRural