Life Expectancy In India Dropped By 2 Years Due To COVID-19: Study

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the lives of people worldwide, has also caused a drop in the life expectancy in India by almost two years, a statistical analysis by scientists of the city-based International Institute for Population Studies (IIPS) has revealed.

The analytical report, which points out the drop in life expectancy at birth in both men and women due to the pandemic, has been published in a journal 'BMC Public Health' recently

According to IIPS assistant professor Surayakant Yadav, who has authored the report, the life expectancy at birth for men and women has declined from 69.5 years and 72 years in 2019 to 67.5 years and 69.8 respectively in 2020.

The life expectancy at birth is calculated on the basis of the average number of years a newborn is expected to live if mortality patterns at the time of the birth of the infant remain constant in future.

The study was conducted to analyse the effect of the Covid pandemic on the mortality patterns across the country, as thousands of lives were lost due to the deadly pandemic waves.

The study also found out that the Covid toll was reported to be the highest for men in the age group of 35-69. The excess deaths in this age bracket due to Covid led to a sharp drop in life expectancy.

The IIPS based its study on the data collected by the 145-nation Global Burden of Disease study and the Covid-India Application Programme Interface (API) portal.