According to the latest report by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, female life expectancy in India has registered a healthy improvement of 0.4 years. From 70.7 years in 2014-18, it has now averaged 71.1 years in 2015-19.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner's office issues 'abridged life tables' annually to summarise the mortality experience of a population during the particular period of study. As per the report, the life expectancy at birth in India has "undergone a significant change" from 49.7 in 1970-75 to 69.7 in 2015-19, a figure that indicates a significant increase of 20 years in the last four decades.
There is good news with regards to female life expectancy at the age one year which shows substantial improvement. Female life expectancy at age one year, after surviving through the first year of life, is 72.9 years, which is three years more than for males (69.9). Most states as per the data have recorded higher life expectancy for females, except for the states of Bihar and Jharkhand.
With Kerala recording, the highest life expectancy at birth for males and females in rural areas, Jammu & Kashmir has recorded the highest for males in urban areas and Himachal Pradesh the highest life expectancy for females in urban areas.
During the same period of 2015-19, the highest life expectancy at birth has been estimated for NCT of Delhi with 75.9 years, and the lowest for Chhattisgarh.
The expectation of life is the highest in Delhi at 74.3 years for males and in Kerala (78.0 years) for females, while it is the lowest in Chhattisgarh (63.7 years) for males and Uttar Pradesh (66.2 years) for females.