Introduction:
Life span is defined as the maximum number of years that a human can live, while life expectancy is the average total number of years that a human achieves.
Life span is defined as the period between life and death of an individual.Life expectancy is an attribute of population whereas life span is an attribute of an individual.
India's rank in life expectancy:
According to the latest WHO data published in 2020 life expectancy in India is: Male 69.5, female 72.2 and total life expectancy is 70.8 which gives India a World Life Expectancy ranking of 117 in year 2020. Thus India is lagging far behind in life expectancy at global level.
The analytical report, which points out the drop in life expectancy at birth in both men and women due to the COVID 19 pandemic, has been published in a journal 'BMC Public Health' recently. IIPS professor Suryakant Yadav has authored the report.
"The life expectancy at birth in 2019 was 69.5 years for men and 72.2 years for women, which came down to 67.5 years and 69.8 years, respectively, in 2020 due to pandemic" the report said.
According to a recent report, Singapore has topped the list of World's healthiest countries, while India has secured the 103 rd position. Thus India is also lagging far behind in the list of world's healthiest countries.
Prevalence of obesity in India is 40.3%. Zonal variations were seen as follows: south highest at 46.51% and east lowest at 32.96%. Obesity% also differ in men and women. Obesity was higher among women than men (41.88% ) in India.People who are lean for life have the lowest mortality, while those with a heavy body shape from childhood up to middle age have the highest mortality, reveal findings of a large study.
Japanese live longer and
Japanese life expectancy is high.This low mortality is mainly attributable to a low rate of obesity, low consumption of red meat, and high consumption of fish and plant foods such as soybeans and tea. In Japan, the obesity rate is quite low 4.8% for men and 3.7% for women.
Researchers from the US compared mortality rates among farmers against rates for the general population and found farmers less likely to die from cancer, heart diseases or diabetes. And studies in and France have also showed farmers are healthier than non-farmers.
A team of researchers at Loma Linda University in the United States has shown vegetarian men live for an average of 10 years longer than non-vegetarian men 83 years compared to 73 years. For women, being vegetarian added an extra 6 years to their lives, helping them reach 85 years on average.
Eating a vegetarian diet really help you live longer.
The best diet to live longer:
“Eating more legumes, whole grains, and nuts and eating less red meat and processed meats were estimated to be the most effective ways to increase life expectancy for individuals with a typical diet,” said Prof. Fadnes.
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 7.9 billion in 2020. The current population according to World Population Clock is 7.96 Billion People (2022) - Worldometer.
The world population will pass 8 billion at the end of 2022.Since 1975 the world has been adding another billion people every 12 years. It passed its last milestone – 7 billion in 2011. And, by the end of 2022, it will pass another one: there will be 8 billion people in the world
The population of India in 2022 is 1,406,631,776 (140.66 crores) with a growth rate of 0.95
Anual growth rate of population:
Definition: The annual average rate of change of population size, for a given country, territory, or geographic area, during a specified period. It expresses the ratio between the annual increase in the population size and the total population for that year, usually multiplied by 100.
An example of population growth rate:
If a population of people grew from 1000 to 1040 in one year, then the percent increase or annual growth rate is 40/1000 x 100 = 4 percent. Another way to show this natural growth rate is to subtract the death rate from the birth rate during one year and convert this into a percentage.
The life expectancy for India was 69.66 in year 2019.
The life expectancy for India in 2020 was 69.73 years, 0.33% increase from 2019.The life expectancy for India in 2021 was 69.96 years, 0.33% increase from 2020.The current life expectancy for India in 2022 is 70.19 years, 0.33% increase from 2021.
The data are represented in the following table.
year Life exp. Growth rate
2019. 69.66. 0.33%
2020. 69.73. 0.33%
2021 69.96. 0.33%
2022. 70.16. 0.33%
Calculation:life expectancy in year 2021 was 69.96.The growth rate was 0.33%.Now the value of 0.33% of 69.96 is
0.23.Therefore 0.23 69.96=
70.19 ,the life expectancy in year 2022.The growth rate has remained constant that is 0.33% since last four years.
Life expectancy at birth is calculated on the basis of the average number of years a newborn is expected to live if mortality patterns at the time of the birth remain constant in future.
WHO, The World Health Organization reported the life expectancy of an Indian to be 70.8 years in its 2019-20 report but it declined to69.96 due to corona pandemic. Over the last two centuries, India's life expectancy has increased consistently but is still lower than the global average of 73.4 years.Life expectancy in India dropped by two years due to Covid-19, says a study.The decline in life expectancy in India between 2019 and 2020 can primarily be attributed to deaths from the pandemic, as COVID-19 deaths contributed to nearly three-fourths or 74% of the decline. An estimated 11% of the decline in life expectancy can be attributed to increases in deaths from accidents/unintentional injuries. Human life expectancy depends on multiple factors.
Life expectancy at birth is highest in Delhi (74.3 yrs) for males and in Kerala (78.0 yrs) for females, whereas it is lowest in Chhattisgarh (63.7 yrs) for males and Uttar Pradesh (66.2 yrs) for females.
Life expectancy of India and neighbouring Asian countries:Year 2022
Country. Life expectancy yrs
(i) Maldives. 79.61
(ii) Srilanka. 77.39
(iii) Bangladesh. 73.29
(iv) Bhutan. 72.47
(v) Indonesia. 72.14
(vi) Nepal. 71.45
(vii) India. 70.19
(vii) Myanmar. 67.58
(ix) Afghanistan. 65.65
(x) Pakistan. 64.67
In the list of the ten Asian countries, India is at 7th position.Even the smaller countries like Maldives, Srilanka, Bangladesh,Bhutan, Indonesia and Nepal are ahead of India.
After freedom freedom British rule,life expectancy of India was only 35.21 in 1950 and it increased gradually.
Year. Expct. life
1950. 35.21
1960. 41.13 5.92
1970. 47.41. 6.32
1980. 53.47. 6.06
1990. 57.66. 3.19
2000. 62.28. 4.62
2010. 66.43. 4.15
2020. 69.73. 3.30
2022. 70.19
High infant and child mortality rates result in lower values of life expectancy at birth than at older ages. This imbalance in life table disappears only when the crossover occurs and it happens when the inverse of the infant mortality becomes equal to the life expectancy at age one.
The correlation between life expectancy and child mortality:
These two measures are closely related. Child mortality is a huge factor in overall life expectancy a large number of children dying can cancel out many people living to old age, and bring down the average lifespan.
Life expectancy refers to the average remaining years of life that can be expected at a given age. Lifespan is the duration of life of an individual, while longevity typically describes a particularly long lifespan.
Longevity refers to the relatively long lifespan of some members of a population. Maximum lifespan is the age at death for the longest-lived individual of a species. Because life expectancy is an average, a particular person may die many years before or many years after the "expected" survival.
Factors contributing to longevity of life:
The duration of human life (longevity) is influenced by genetics, the environment, and lifestyle.
If you retire at 65, you have a 76 percent chance of living ten more years, a 38 percent chance of living 20 more years, and a 5 percent chance of living another 30 years. The life expectancy for men in the United States is 78.54 years.
Now men in the United States aged 65 can expect to live 18.2 more years on average. Women aged 65 years can expect to live around 20.8 more years on average. As of 2019, the average life expectancy at birth in the United States was 78.79 years.
The study, supported by the American Insurance Group, found that, on average, a 75-year-old American woman with no chronic conditions will live 17.3 additional years that's to more than 92 years old.
Causes for a Low Life Expectancy:
Poverty
Homelessness
Social isolation
Lack of education
Fast food
Alcohol
Tobacco
Illegal drugs
Genetics
Stress
Lack of exercising
Lack of health insurance
Lack of social security
Low quality of public infrastructure
Diseases
Parenting
In theory, increasing life expectancy may have positive or negative effects. On the one hand, lower mortality may increase income per capita by in- creasing the productivity of available resources (most notably human capital). On the other hand, lower mortality may lead to an increase in population size
The following are the reasons for decline in death rate in India :
Control of Epidemics
Urbanisation of Population
More Medical Facilities
Spread of Education
Late Marriage
Control over famine
Balanced Die
Decline in social evils.
Gender: According to the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, mortality rates for females are lower at each age than those of men.
The factors affecting life expectancy in India are as follows:
Genetics
Prenatal and childhood conditions
Education
Socio-economic status
Marital status
Ethnicity/migrant status
Lifestyle
Medical technology .
Stay fit and healthy.Live long life.
स्वत्यस्तु ते कुशलमस्तु चिरयुरस्तु ।
विद्या विवेक कृति कौशल-सिद्धिरस्तु ।
ऐश्वर्यमस्तु बलमस्तु राष्ट्रभक्ति सदास्तु।
वन्शः सदैव भवता हि सुदिप्तोस्तु ।
अर्थात् आप हमेशा प्रसन्न, कुशल और लम्बी आयू को प्राप्त करें। विद्या, बुद्धि और दक्षता में उपलब्धि प्राप्त करें। ऐश्वर्य व बल और शक्ति प्राप्त करें और देशभक्त बने रहें। आपका वंश हमेशा तेजस्वी बना रहे।
दीर्घायु-आरोग्ययस्तु।
सुयशः भवतु। विजयः भवतु।
अर्थात्- आप दीर्घायु हों और आरोग्य रहें।जीवन में यश प्राप्त करें।जीवन में विजय प्राप्त करें।
Information compiled by:
Dr. Bhairavsinh Raol
