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Life Expectancy Decline in India Due to Covid-19
Context:
According to the ‘‘Large and unequal life expectancy declines during the Covid-19 pandemic in India in 2020’’, India’s life expectancy fell by 2.6 years between 2019 and 2020
Analysis of Life Expectancy Decline:
- Life Expectancy is the average number of years a person is expected to live.
- The study utilised data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) and analysed households from 14 states and union territories (UTs), representing one-fourth of India’s population.
- Overall Decline: India experienced a loss of 2.6 years in life expectancy between 2019 and 2020, greater than that observed in high-income countries.
- India’s overall mortality was 17% higher in 2020 than in 2019, implying 1.19 million excess deaths.
- Marginalised social groups experienced greater life expectancy declines than the most privileged social groups.
Gender Disparities:
- Females saw a decline of 3.1 years, whereas males experienced a 2.1-year reduction in life expectancy.
- This could be due to gender inequalities in healthcare and household resource allocation.
- This contrasts with high-income countries, where excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic was higher among men than women.
Age-Group Impact:
- In high-income countries, life expectancy declines were mainly due to increased mortality in those over 60.
- In India, mortality rose across almost all age groups, especially the youngest and oldest aged 50-60.
- Although the absolute rise in mortality was greatest among the oldest age groups, increases in mortality among younger age groups had a significant impact on life expectancy losses.
- This is because life expectancy is more sensitive to deaths occurring at younger ages.
- Mortality increases in the 0-19 and 60-79 age groups among females contributed significantly to the life expectancy decline.
- For males, the 40-59 age group had the most notable impact.
- In high-income countries, the decline was mainly due to increased mortality above age 60, especially over 80.
- In high-income countries, the decline was mainly due to increased mortality above age 60, especially over 80.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5)
- It is a large-scale, multi-round survey providing information on:
- Fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, etc.
- Nodal agency: International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) is designated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as nodal agency responsible for coordinating and providing technical guidance.
- Aim: To provide essential health and family welfare data for policy and program needs of the MoHFW and other agencies, and to inform on emerging health and family welfare issues.
- Key Findings:
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- The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has fallen below the replacement level of 2.1, reaching 2.0 between 2019-2021.
- NFHS-5 has also shown an improvement in the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) from 919 to 927 girls born per thousand boys.
- There is also a narrowing of the gap between male and female under-five mortality rates over the last few years.
