Covid-19 cut life expectancy by 1.6yrs: IIPS study

Mumbai: India experienced a sharp decline in life expectancy in 2021, losing 1.6 years amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This setback erased nearly a decade of health gains, according to analysis by researchers from the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Deonar.The findings come days after the Union govt released data from the civil registration system showing that India recorded 2.2 million excess deaths in 2021 compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. The study, led by IIPS doctoral students Chandan Kumar, Pravat Bhandari, Himanshu Jaiswal, and Professor Suryakant Yadav from the department of biostatistics and epidemiology, found that the country's overall life expectancy at birth fell from 70.4 years in 2019 to 68.8 years in 2021.Among the 22 states analysed, 19 experienced declines in life expectancy. The most severe drops were seen in Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana, where life expectancy fell by more than three years. "Men in India saw a 2.2-year drop in life expectancy, from 68.9 to 66.7 years, while women's life expectancy declined by only 0.5 years, from 72.1 to 71.5 years," said Dr Yadav. "This shows that men died at much higher rates during the pandemic, resulting in a further widening of the gender gap," he added.The gender gap in life expectancy grew to 3.2 years in 2021, up from 2.8 years before the pandemic. In states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the decline in male life expectancy was more than five times greater than that of females. Dr Yadav emphasised that these results are very preliminary and that the final comprehensive report will soon be sent for publication.Life expectancy at birth —an estimate of the average years a newborn can expect to live based on current mortality rates — is a key component of the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures a country's health, education, and standard of living. "Losses in life expectancy due to Covid-19 could cause India to slip in the HDI rankings," the researchers warned.Noting the global context, Dr Yadav added, "Such dramatic drops are expected following a major disaster or pandemic. Many high-income countries that experienced decl-ines in life expectancy during Covid-19 have since managed to recover these losses."