Significant Decline in Life Expectancy in India During COVID-19 International Study

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A recent study published in Science Advances has highlighted a significant and unequal decline in life expectancy in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research, co-authored by Dr. Aashish Gupta and Professor Ridhi Kashyap from the Department of Sociology and the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, reveals that life expectancy in India dropped by 2.6 years in 2020 compared to 2019, with women and marginalized social groups suffering the greatest declines.

 

The study found that overall mortality across India was 17% higher in 2020 compared to 2019, translating to an estimated 1.19 million excess deaths. This figure is approximately eight times higher than the official number of COVID-19 deaths reported in India and 1.5 times higher than the World Health Organization's estimates. Professor Kashyap, a Professor of Demography and Computational Social Science at the University of Oxford, stated, "Our findings challenge the view that 2020 was not significant in terms of the mortality impacts and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. While a mortality surge caused by the delta variant in 2021 received more attention, our study reveals significant and unequal mortality increases even earlier on in the pandemic."

 

The study utilized high-quality survey data from 765,180 individuals to estimate changes in life expectancy at birth, by sex and social group, between 2019 and 2020 in India. It found that younger age groups, women, and marginalized social groups experienced the largest mortality impacts from the pandemic. Dr. Gupta, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Oxford, noted, "Marginalized groups already had lower life expectancy, and the pandemic further increased the gap between the most privileged Indian social groups and the most marginalized social groups in India."

 

The research highlighted that while high-caste Hindu groups experienced a life expectancy decline of 1.3 years, the loss for Muslims was 5.4 years, and for Scheduled Tribes, it was 4.1 years. These marginalized caste and religious groups already faced significant disadvantages in life expectancy, and the pandemic exacerbated these disparities. Additionally, the study found that women in India experienced life expectancy declines of 3.1 years—one year more than men, who experienced a decline of 2.1 years. This pattern contrasts with high-income countries, where excess mortality during the pandemic was higher among men than women. The researchers suggest that gender inequalities in healthcare and resource allocation within households may explain this difference in India.

 

The study also found that mortality increased across almost all age groups in India, with the most significant impacts seen in the youngest and older age groups. Excess mortality among the youngest could be attributed to children in certain areas being more susceptible to COVID-19 and the indirect effects of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, including deteriorating economic conditions and disruptions to public health services. Professor Kashyap emphasized, "Using unique demographic and health survey data, our study highlights the importance of focusing on inequality when measuring mortality and shows that pandemics can worsen, rather than equalize, existing disparities. This was particularly noticeable in the role that COVID-19 had in further exacerbating the health impacts of pre-pandemic gender disparities."

 

The study demonstrates the potential for accurately estimating mortality—even for short periods—using retrospective mortality information collected in relatively poor contexts. It also underscores the need for policies that address the underlying social determinants of health to mitigate the impact of future health crises.

 

Credit: PHYS.ORG 2024-07-22

 

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[G_Money]

I would suspect life expectancy in India is low regardless of the ...  Virus.

 

Grinding poverty, limited healthcare unless you’re rich, dead cows/people in rivers, bad water, caste system etc etc.

 

Edited July 21 by stats
trolling

[rabas]

8 hours ago, G_Money said:

I would suspect life expectancy in India is low regardless of the ...  Virus.

 

Grinding poverty, limited healthcare unless you’re rich, dead cows/people in rivers, bad water, caste system etc etc.

 

The article discusses a steep decline in Indian life expectancy.

 

In contrast to your out-of-date view, Indian life expectancy has steadily increased since 1920, peeking over 70 years in 2017. The sharp decline from COVID underscores that estimated actual deaths are much higher than officially recorded deaths, a fact true for all pandemics [reference].  IHME experts estimate total global COVID deaths to be near 20 million [reference].

 

Graph from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_in_India

 

[G_Money]

7 hours ago, rabas said:

 

The article discusses a steep decline in Indian life expectancy.

 

In contrast to your out-of-date view, Indian life expectancy has steadily increased since 1920, peeking over 70 years in 2017. The sharp decline from COVID underscores that estimated actual deaths are much higher than officially recorded deaths, a fact true for all pandemics [reference].  IHME experts estimate total global COVID deaths to be near 20 million [reference].

 

Graph from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_in_India

 

That’s nice!  Are there still dead cows in the rivers?