Who Lives Longer? Examining Socioeconomic and Regional Gaps in Longevity in India

• In Event: 30860 - Section on Aging and the Life Course Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 1. Place-Based Studies of Health and Aging

Abstract

Given the significance of longer lifespans and socioeconomic parity in longer lifespans, specific efforts have been initiated globally to measure life expectancy as well as socioeconomic disparities in them. Having said that, we used all five rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) from 1992-93 to 2019-2021 to construct two indices, namely, Index of Representation in Longevity (IRL) and Index of Socioeconomic Inequality in Longevity (ISIL) to estimate the socioeconomic inequality in longevity (SIL) in India; and to analyze changes in SIL over the past three decades. We have taken 65 years as a cutoff for longevity. An IRL greater than 1 for a group indicates that the group has a greater proportion in the 65+ population than its proportion in the overall population and vice versa. Similarly, an ISIL of x% represents that x% longevity opportunities have to be shifted from better off groups to the worse off groups to bring equality in the society. Individuals belonging to upper caste; Christian and Sikh religions, rich classes and Western and Southern regions have excess representation. Disadvantaged groups such as Scheduled Castes/Tribes and Muslims are underrepresented. Individuals belonging to lower economic classes and central, eastern, and northeastern regions have underrepresentation. Thus, there is a need to focus on people of lower castes, Muslims, those belonging to lower economic strata, and from central and eastern regions.

Authors

• Laeek Ahemad Ahemad Siddiqui, IIPS Mumbai

• Akancha Singh