Average age of an Indian up by 5 years

Life expectency (LE) in India went up by 5 years in the last 10 years. The LE for Indian men is now 67.3 years and that for women is 69.5, as per statistics released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

This is a big jump; in fact, higher than in the previous decade. The LE was 42 years in 1960, 48 years in 1980 and 62 years in 2000.

The improvement is due to better immunization and nutrition, family planning, coupled with prevention and treatment of infectious diseases like diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

What this means is that overall the health policies in India are in the right direction.

The big challenge is to increase the LE beyond 70 years. ‘Supply of clean drinking water and better control of non-communicable diseases will play a major role. However, India is still grappling with communicable diseases’, said Dr. George Thomas, Editor of Indian Journal of Medical Ethics.

With increased LE the disease burden will increase. India will have to devise strategies now to deal with this challenge.

Dr. Ajay Sati.