Differentials in Longevity

This chapter analyses the differentials in longevity across the districts of India based on inter-district variation in the life expectancy at birth and inequality adjusted life expectancy at birth. District level estimates of life expectancy at birth and inequality adjusted life expectancy at birth are based on the life tables constructed for 639 districts of the country as they existed at the 2011 population census following a non-parametric approach of modelling the transition in age-specific probabilities of death at the country level and the strong linear relationship between the geometric mean of the age-specific probabilities of death and the probability of death in the first five years of life. The analysis reveals that both male and female life expectancy at birth and inequality adjusted life expectancy at birth vary widely across the districts of the country and inter-district variation in female life expectancy at birth and inequality adjusted life expectancy at birth is relatively more marked than inter-district variation in male life expectancy at birth and inequality adjusted life expectancy at birth. Both female life expectancy at birth and inequality adjusted life expectancy at birth have also been found to be higher than male life expectancy at birth and inequality adjusted female life expectancy at birth in all districts of the country but the female-male gap in both life expectancy at birth and in inequality adjusted life expectancy at birth vary widely across districts. This chapter also discusses the inequality in the distribution of the age at death or the distribution of the length of life across the districts of the country.