Life expectancy in India was 25.4 in the year 1800, and over the course of the next 220 years, it has increased to almost 70. Between 1800 and 1920, life expectancy in India remained in the mid to low twenties, with the largest declines coming in the 1870s and 1910s; this was because of the Great Famine of 1876-1878, and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919, both of which were responsible for the deaths of up to six and seventeen million Indians respectively; as well as the presence of other endemic diseases in the region, such as smallpox. From 1920 onwards, India's life expectancy has consistently increased, but it is still below the global average.
The statistic shows the life expectancy at birth in India from 2013 to 2023. The average life expectancy at birth in India in 2023 was 72 years. Standard of living in India India is one of the so-called BRIC countries, an acronym which stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China, the four states considered the major emerging market countries. They are all in a similar advanced economic state and are expected to advance even further. India is also among the twenty leading countries with the largest gross domestic product / GDP, and the twenty countries with the largest proportion of global gross domestic product / GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Its unemployment rate has been stable over the past few years; India is also among the leading import and export countries worldwide. This alone should put India in a relatively comfortable position economically speaking, however, parts of the population of India are struggling with poverty and health problems. When looking at a comparison of the median age of the population in selected countries – i.e. one half of the population is older and the other half is younger –, it can be seen that the median age of the Indian population is about twenty years less than that of the Germans or Japanese. In fact, the median age in India is significantly lower than the median age of the population of the other emerging BRIC countries – Russia, China and Brazil. Additionally, the total population of India has been steadily increasing. Regarding life expectancy, India is neither among the countries with the highest, nor among those with the lowest life expectancy at birth. The majority of the Indian population is aged between 15 and 64 years, with only about 5 percent being older than 64.
The life expectancy of men at birth in India saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 70.52 years. Nevertheless, 2023 still represents a peak in the life expectancy in India. Life expectancy at birth refers to the number of years the average newborn is expected to live, providing that mortality patterns at the time of birth do not change thereafter.Find more statistics on other topics about India with key insights such as life expectancy of women at birth, crude birth rate, and death rate.
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Life expectancy at birth, male (years) in India was reported at 70.52 years in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - Life expectancy at birth, male (years) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.
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Life expectancy at birth, female (years) in India was reported at 73.6 years in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - Life expectancy at birth, female (years) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.
The life expectancy of women at birth in India saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 73.6 years. Still, the life expectancy reached its highest value in the observed period in 2023. Life expectancy at birth refers to the number of years that the average newborn can expect to live, providing that mortality patterns at the time of their birth do not change thereafter.Find more statistics on other topics about India with key insights such as death rate, crude birth rate, and life expectancy of men at birth.
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India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 2.700 Ratio in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.800 Ratio for 2018. India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 4.950 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 6.900 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 2.700 Ratio in 2019. India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 10-14 years of age expressed per 1,000 adolescents age 10, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.
The Indian state with the highest projected life expectancy at birth from 2031 to 2036 was Kerala with **** years. Kerala also reflected the overall highest projected life expectancy from 2009 to 2036. By contrast, the state with the lowest projected life expectancy at birth from 2031 to 2036 was Uttar Pradesh with **** years. The state with the overall lowest projected projected life expectancy from 2009 to 2036 were the North Eastern states excluding Assam.
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India: Deaths of children under five years of age per 1000 live births: The latest value from 2022 is 29 deaths per 1000 births, a decline from 31 deaths per 1000 births in 2021. In comparison, the world average is 25 deaths per 1000 births, based on data from 187 countries. Historically, the average for India from 1960 to 2022 is 130 deaths per 1000 births. The minimum value, 29 deaths per 1000 births, was reached in 2022 while the maximum of 242 deaths per 1000 births was recorded in 1960.
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Between 1993 and 2020, India’s life expectancy increased significantly in every state for both men and women. The life expectancy at the national level increased from 61.1 years in 1993-97 to 70 years in 2016-20, representing a significant gain of almost 9 years. In addition, a notable gender disparity in life expectancy was documented during this period, with women generally outliving men in most of the Indian states. During this period the gender difference in life expectancy grew from 1.4 years in 1993–1997 to 2.8 years in 2016–20. Kerala consistently maintained the highest life expectancy in the country, reaching 75 years in 2016-20, significantly above the national average.
A global phenomenon, known as the demographic transition, has seen life expectancy from birth increase rapidly over the past two centuries. In pre-industrial societies, the average life expectancy was around 24 years, and it is believed that this was the case throughout most of history, and in all regions. The demographic transition then began in the industrial societies of Europe, North America, and the West Pacific around the turn of the 19th century, and life expectancy rose accordingly. Latin America was the next region to follow, before Africa and most Asian populations saw their life expectancy rise throughout the 20th century.
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<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>
<li>India death rate for 2024 was <strong>7.47</strong>, a <strong>0.77% increase</strong> from 2023.</li>
<li>India death rate for 2023 was <strong>7.42</strong>, a <strong>0.49% increase</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>India death rate for 2022 was <strong>7.38</strong>, a <strong>0.49% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
</ul>Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.
As of 2023, the countries with the highest life expectancy included Switzerland, Japan, and Spain. As of that time, a new-born child in Switzerland could expect to live an average of 84.2 years. Around the world, females consistently have a higher average life expectancy than males, with females in Europe expected to live an average of six years longer than males on this continent. Increases in life expectancy The overall average life expectancy in OECD countries increased by 11.3 years from 1970 to 2019. The countries that saw the largest increases included Turkey, India, and South Korea. The life expectancy at birth in Turkey increased an astonishing 24.4 years over this period. The countries with the lowest life expectancy worldwide as of 2022 were Chad, Lesotho, and Nigeria, where a newborn could be expected to live an average of 53 years. Life expectancy in the U.S. The life expectancy in the United States was 77.43 years as of 2022. Shockingly, the life expectancy in the United States has decreased in recent years, while it continues to increase in other similarly developed countries. The COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rates of suicide and drug overdose deaths from the opioid epidemic have been cited as reasons for this decrease.
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School life expectancy, primary, female (years) in India was reported at 4.9016 years in 2019, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India - School life expectancy, primary, female (years) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.
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India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 20-24 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 6.000 Ratio in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.100 Ratio for 2018. India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 20-24 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 10.350 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14.000 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 6.000 Ratio in 2019. India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 20-24 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 20-24 years of age expressed per 1,000 youths age 20, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.
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India: Deaths of children five to fourteen years of age per 1000 live births: The latest value from 2022 is 2 deaths per 1000 births, unchanged from 2 deaths per 1000 births in 2021. In comparison, the world average is 3 deaths per 1000 births, based on data from 187 countries. Historically, the average for India from 1990 to 2022 is 7 deaths per 1000 births. The minimum value, 2 deaths per 1000 births, was reached in 2018 while the maximum of 14 deaths per 1000 births was recorded in 1990.
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This study estimates the economic losses (GDP), particularly the impact of COVID-19 deaths on non-health components of GDP in West Bengal state. The NHGDP losses were evaluated using cost-of-illness approach. Future NHGDP losses were discounted at 3%. Excess death estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Global Burden of Disease (GBD) were used. Sensitivity analysis was carried out by varying discount rates and Average Age of Death (AAD). 21,532 deaths in West Bengal since 17th March 2020 till 31st December 2022 decreased the future NHGDP by $0.92 billion. Nearly 90% of loss was due to deaths occurring in above 30 years age-group. The majority of the loss was borne among the 46–60 years age-group. The NHGDP loss/death was $42,646, however, the average loss/death declined with a rise in age. The loss increased to $9.38 billion and $9.42 billion respectively based on GBD and WHO excess death estimates. The loss increased to $1.3 billion by considering the lower age of the interval as AAD. At 5% and 10% discount rates, the losses reduced to $0.769 billion and $0.549 billion respectively. Results from the study suggest that COVID-19 contributed to major economic loss in West Bengal. The mortality and morbidity caused by COVID-19, the substantial economic costs at individual and population levels in West Bengal, and probably across India and other countries, is another argument for better infection control strategies across the globe to end the impact of this epidemic. Methods Various open domains were used to gather data on COVID-19 deaths in West Bengal and the aforementioned estimates. Economic losses in terms of Non-Health Gross Domestic Product (NHGDP)among six age-group brackets viz. 0–15, 16–30, 31–45, 46–60, 61–75 and 75 and above were estimated to facilitate comparisons and to initiate advocacy for an increase in health investments against COVID-19. This study used midpoint age as the age of death for all the age brackets. The legal minimum age for working i.e., 15 years. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the effect of age on the overall total NHGDP loss estimate. The model was re-estimated assuming an average age at death to be the starting age of each age-group bracket. Based on existing literature discounted rate of interest to measure the value of life is taken as 2.9%. As a sensitivity analysis, NHGDP loss has also been computed using 5% and 10% of discounted rates of interest.
Life expectancy is an estimate of how long a person would live, on average.
Life expectancy is affected by many factors such as: • Socioeconomic status, including employment, income, education and economic wellbeing. • The quality of the health system and the ability of people to access it; health behaviors such as tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption, poor nutrition and lack of exercise. • Social factors; genetic factors; and environmental factors including overcrowded housing, lack of clean drinking water and adequate sanitation, etc.
With the help of the above-mentioned factors, I tried to analyse t the data and come up with measurable solutions to improve the Life Expectancy.
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The second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted in 1998-99, provides information on fertility, mortality, family planning, and important aspects of nutrition, health, and health care. The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) coordinated the survey, which collected information from a nationally representative sample of more than 90,000 ever-married women age 15-49. The NFHS-2 sample covers 99 percent of India's population living in all 26 states. This report is based on the survey data for 25 of the 26 states, however, since data collection in Tripura was delayed due to local problems in the state. IIPS also coordinated the first National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) in 1992-93. Most of the types of information collected in NFHS-2 were also collected in the earlier survey, making it possible to identify trends over the intervening period of six and one-half years. In addition, the NFHS-2 questionnaire covered a number of new or expanded topics with important policy implications, such as reproductive health, women's autonomy, domestic violence, women's nutrition, anaemia, and salt iodization. The NFHS-2 survey was carried out in two phases. Ten states were surveyed in the first phase which began in November 1998 and the remaining states (except Tripura) were surveyed in the second phase which began in March 1999. The field staff collected information from 91,196 households in these 25 states and interviewed 89,199 eligible women in these households. In addition, the survey collected information on 32,393 children born in the three years preceding the survey. One health investigator on each survey team measured the height and weight of eligible women and children and took blood samples to assess the prevalence of anaemia. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS Three-quarters (73 percent) of the population lives in rural areas. The age distribution is typical of populations that have recently experienced a fertility decline, with relatively low proportions in the younger and older age groups. Thirty-six percent of the population is below age 15, and 5 percent is age 65 and above. The sex ratio is 957 females for every 1,000 males in rural areas but only 928 females for every 1,000 males in urban areas, suggesting that more men than women have migrated to urban areas. The survey provides a variety of demographic and socioeconomic background information. In the country as a whole, 82 percent of household heads are Hindu, 12 percent are Muslim, 3 percent are Christian, and 2 percent are Sikh. Muslims live disproportionately in urban areas, where they comprise 15 percent of household heads. Nineteen percent of household heads belong to scheduled castes, 9 percent belong to scheduled tribes, and 32 percent belong to other backward classes (OBCs). Two-fifths of household heads do not belong to any of these groups. Questions about housing conditions and the standard of living of households indicate some improvements since the time of NFHS-1. Sixty percent of households in India now have electricity and 39 percent have piped drinking water compared with 51 percent and 33 percent, respectively, at the time of NFHS-1. Sixty-four percent of households have no toilet facility compared with 70 percent at the time of NFHS-1. About three-fourths (75 percent) of males and half (51 percent) of females age six and above are literate, an increase of 6-8 percentage points from literacy rates at the time of NFHS-1. The percentage of illiterate males varies from 6-7 percent in Mizoram and Kerala to 37 percent in Bihar and the percentage of illiterate females varies from 11 percent in Mizoram and 15 percent in Kerala to 65 percent in Bihar. Seventy-nine percent of children age 6-14 are attending school, up from 68 percent in NFHS-1. The proportion of children attending school has increased for all ages, particularly for girls, but girls continue to lag behind boys in school attendance. Moreover, the disparity in school attendance by sex grows with increasing age of children. At age 6-10, 85 percent of boys attend school compared with 78 percent of girls. By age 15-17, 58 percent of boys attend school compared with 40 percent of girls. The percentage of girls 6-17 attending school varies from 51 percent in Bihar and 56 percent in Rajasthan to over 90 percent in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala. Women in India tend to marry at an early age. Thirty-four percent of women age 15-19 are already married including 4 percent who are married but gauna has yet to be performed. These proportions are even higher in the rural areas. Older women are more likely than younger women to have married at an early age: 39 percent of women currently age 45-49 married before age 15 compared with 14 percent of women currently age 15-19. Although this indicates that the proportion of women who marry young is declining rapidly, half the women even in the age group 20-24 have married before reaching the legal minimum age of 18 years. On average, women are five years younger than the men they marry. The median age at marriage varies from about 15 years in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh to 23 years in Goa. As part of an increasing emphasis on gender issues, NFHS-2 asked women about their participation in household decisionmaking. In India, 91 percent of women are involved in decision-making on at least one of four selected topics. A much lower proportion (52 percent), however, are involved in making decisions about their own health care. There are large variations among states in India with regard to women's involvement in household decisionmaking. More than three out of four women are involved in decisions about their own health care in Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Punjab compared with about two out of five or less in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan. Thirty-nine percent of women do work other than housework, and more than two-thirds of these women work for cash. Only 41 percent of women who earn cash can decide independently how to spend the money that they earn. Forty-three percent of working women report that their earnings constitute at least half of total family earnings, including 18 percent who report that the family is entirely dependent on their earnings. Women's work-participation rates vary from 9 percent in Punjab and 13 percent in Haryana to 60-70 percent in Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. FERTILITY AND FAMILY PLANNING Fertility continues to decline in India. At current fertility levels, women will have an average of 2.9 children each throughout their childbearing years. The total fertility rate (TFR) is down from 3.4 children per woman at the time of NFHS-1, but is still well above the replacement level of just over two children per woman. There are large variations in fertility among the states in India. Goa and Kerala have attained below replacement level fertility and Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab are at or close to replacement level fertility. By contrast, fertility is 3.3 or more children per woman in Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. More than one-third to less than half of all births in these latter states are fourth or higher-order births compared with 7-9 percent of births in Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu. Efforts to encourage the trend towards lower fertility might usefully focus on groups within the population that have higher fertility than average. In India, rural women and women from scheduled tribes and scheduled castes have somewhat higher fertility than other women, but fertility is particularly high for illiterate women, poor women, and Muslim women. Another striking feature is the high level of childbearing among young women. More than half of women age 20-49 had their first birth before reaching age 20, and women age 15-19 account for almost one-fifth of total fertility. Studies in India and elsewhere have shown that health and mortality risks increase when women give birth at such young ages?both for the women themselves and for their children. Family planning programmes focusing on women in this age group could make a significant impact on maternal and child health and help to reduce fertility. INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY NFHS-2 provides estimates of infant and child mortality and examines factors associated with the survival of young children. During the five years preceding the survey, the infant mortality rate was 68 deaths at age 0-11 months per 1,000 live births, substantially lower than 79 per 1,000 in the five years preceding the NFHS-1 survey. The child mortality rate, 29 deaths at age 1-4 years per 1,000 children reaching age one, also declined from the corresponding rate of 33 per 1,000 in NFHS-1. Ninety-five children out of 1,000 born do not live to age five years. Expressed differently, 1 in 15 children die in the first year of life, and 1 in 11 die before reaching age five. Child-survival programmes might usefully focus on specific groups of children with particularly high infant and child mortality rates, such as children who live in rural areas, children whose mothers are illiterate, children belonging to scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, and children from poor households. Infant mortality rates are more than two and one-half times as high for women who did not receive any of the recommended types of maternity related medical care than for mothers who did receive all recommended types of care. HEALTH, HEALTH CARE, AND NUTRITION Promotion of maternal and child health has been one of the most important components of the Family Welfare Programme of the Government of India. One goal is for each pregnant woman to receive at least three antenatal check-ups plus two tetanus toxoid injections and a full course of iron and folic acid supplementation. In India, mothers of 65 percent of the children born in the three years preceding NFHS-2 received at least one antenatal
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This horizontal bar chart displays life expectancy at birth (year) by continent using the aggregation average, weighted by population in India. The data is about countries per year.
Life expectancy in India was 25.4 in the year 1800, and over the course of the next 220 years, it has increased to almost 70. Between 1800 and 1920, life expectancy in India remained in the mid to low twenties, with the largest declines coming in the 1870s and 1910s; this was because of the Great Famine of 1876-1878, and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919, both of which were responsible for the deaths of up to six and seventeen million Indians respectively; as well as the presence of other endemic diseases in the region, such as smallpox. From 1920 onwards, India's life expectancy has consistently increased, but it is still below the global average.