Indians live longer than Pakistanis, lag Bangladeshis, says WHO
A new WHO report indicates that India's life expectancy reached 71 years in 2023, showing a recovery from pandemic-era declines. While Indians live longer than Pakistanis, they still lag behind Bangladesh, the US, and Canada in both overall and healthy life expectancy.
Why it matters
The data highlights the ongoing public health transition in India as the country shifts from communicable diseases to a higher burden of non-communicable conditions.
NEW DELHI: Indians can expect to live longer than their counterparts in Pakistan, but have shorter lives than people in Bangladesh, the US and Canada, according to the latest World Health Organization estimates.India's life expectancy at birth was 71 years in 2023, compared with 68.2 years in Pakistan, 72.7 years in Bangladesh, 78.5 years in the US and 81.4 years in Canada. But living longer does not necessarily mean living more years in good health. India's healthy life expectancy was 60.6 years in 2023, compared with 60.5 in 2019. It had fallen to 58.4 years in 2021 before recovering to 60.2 years in 2022. The figures are part of WHO's Global Health Estimates, released Friday, covering life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, causes of death and disease burden from 2000 to 2023.
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