Early signs of the urban Indian woman's depleting lifespan showing up

Average male lifespan across the country is catching up with that of the female, which is growing at a slower pace

Early trends point to a disturbing demographic development in the cities and towns of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, with the gradual reduction of the lifespan of women living in these regions. The average lifespan of urban women in Hyderabad or Visakhapatnam, for instance, has come down from 75.2 years in the five-year reference period of 2010-2014, to 73.4 years in 2013-2017. 

Life expectancy in general has risen marginally across all Indian states, signalling an overall improvement in the health of the populace. The average male lifespan is catching up with that of the female, which is growing at a slower pace. While the average lifespan of women increased by 6-7 months over three years, that of men rose by a year and a half over the same period. 

These are the findings of an official survey under Sample Registration System (SRS), by the Registrar General of India, the institution that generates the census every ten years. Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir have not been considered for the analysis due to unavailability of coherent data. 

Why life expectancy is falling

These trends are in contrast with the across-the-board improvement in health indicators of Indians at the turn of the century. However, the increasing stress and deterioration in urban lifestyles, which come with the rapid pace of development/disruptions, are causing the improvement to ebb, experts note. 

On the national scale, though the average lifespan of the Indian woman is rising, it is tapering, or growing slower than before. On the other hand, the male lifespan, which is about three years lower than that of woman, is rising steadily, SRS data shows. The SRS generates annual series of mortality and fertility indicators through annual national-level surveys. 

The tapering in female life expectancy seems to be clearly due to the slow rise and, in some cases reduction in lifespan in a few states. At least four domains showed falling female life expectancy in cities, and three showed males living shorter lives in the 2013-2017 period. 

In the previous period, the dichotomy was sharper. As many as nine states had shown urban female life expectancy had shortened in the 2012-2016 period, when only three states had shown a similar trend for men. 

Officials who have been carrying out these surveys for a decade, told Business Standard on condition of anonymity, that there are two underlying factors causing this reversal in trend. 

In Uttarakhand, the drop in life expectancy has fairly been across the board: for both men and women, in both villages and cities, reducing the overall life expectancy by nearly a year in recent years. 

Among all Indian states, the gap between lifespans of women and men is the highest in the hilly states of Uttarakhand (6.2 years) and Himachal Pradesh (5.8 years), and in the coastal state of Kerala (5.3 years), owing to better involvement of women in the workforce. 

Changes in river patterns after the devastating 2013 floods have, however, adversely affected disease and disability patterns of women in Uttarakhand, health experts said. 

“In hilly states, studies have shown an enhanced addiction of men towards smoking and alcohol, making respiratory disease a top burden among others. But in the current context, financial limitations to provide healthcare services seems to be the reason,” said a person among the experts Business Standard spoke to. 

In undivided Andhra Pradesh (since the reference period for the data starts in 2013, when Telangana had not yet been carved out), the reasons are different. 

“On the one hand, changes in the migration patterns in and out of urban areas is changing the demography of certain states. There has been unchecked urbanisation in the last decade to 2016-2017,” said a person from the office of the Registrar General of India. 

She said that the pattern is being observed in Andhra Pradesh for the last decade or so. On the impact of changes in methodology, the person quoted above said that the base sample frame for the survey has been kept unchanged for the last 10 years or so. 

Another, and probably more critical reason, is the shortfall in the provision of public healthcare services in certain regions. 

“Healthcare services might not be reaching the last mile due to the very first reason: unchecked urbanisation and migration. And under such circumstances, women are the first to get affected, various studies have shown,” she said. 

At the national level, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have demonstrated the biggest improvement in life expectancy in recent years. Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Karnataka have shown the slowest improvement, apart from the deterioration in Uttarakhand and Punjab.