India registered an increase of five years in life expectancy rate

India registered an increase of five years in the average life expectancy rate. The average life expectancy rate increased from 63.9 years in 2004 to 69.6 years in 2014. The increase in the life expectancy was the result of consistent investments in public health sector by the government.

Life expectancy is defined as the average number of years a person born in a given country would live if mortality rates at each age were to remain constant in the future.

As per the census of 2011, the life expectancy in India was 65.48 years as compared to the global average life expectancy of 67.88 years. Japan, Switzerland, San Marino are the countries with highest average life expectancy of 83 years. On the other hand, poor countries of Africa like Somalia, Lesotho have an average life expectancy of 50 years with Sierra Leone having the least life expectancy at 47 years.

Although India has improved its performance but it still has a life expectancy rate which is relatively very low in South Asia. For instance, Bhutan has the life expectancy of 65.79 years while Pakistan has managed to improve its overall Life expectancy to 67 years. China’s life expectancy rate is 72.90 years, Bangladesh has life expectancy of 70 years and Sri Lanka has life expectancy of 75 years.

Among the BRICS countries also India fares badly. For instance, Brazil’s life expectancy rate stands at 74 years, Russia’s life expectancy is 69 years and South Africa has a poor life expectancy of 58 years.