Page 44 - IJPS-2-1

International Journal of Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Life expectancy at birth and life disparity: an

assessment of sex differentials in mortality in

India

*
Akansha Singh and Laishram Ladusingh
International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Opposite Sanjona Cham-
ber, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400088, India

Abstract: This study aims to examine the sex differentials in life expectancy at birth and life disparity,
and to estimate the age-specific contribution of the differences for India and its major states. Life dispari-
ty measures the variation in the distribution of deaths, and life expectancy at birth measures the average
length of life. Complete life tables generated from death rates and abridged life tables of the Sample Reg-
istration System in India from 1970–1975 to 2006–2010 were used to fulfill the research goals. Stepwise
replacement algorithm was used for the decomposition of sex differences in life expectancy at birth and in
life disparity. The results indicate that the increase in life expectancy at birth and decline in life disparity
was higher for females. The sex differential was more prominent in urban areas than in rural areas. A ma-
jority of the states in India experienced changes in the direction and magnitude of sex differentials in life
expectancy at birth and life disparity from 1970–1975 to 2006–2010. The sex differentials in life expec-
tancy at birth and life disparity in 1970–1975 were primarily attributed to child mortality, whereas the sex
differentials in recent decades were attributed to adult mortality.
Keywords: adult mortality, child mortality, decomposition, India, life expectancy at birth, life disparity,
life table, sex differential

*Correspondence to: Akansha Singh, International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar,
Opposite Sanjona Chamber, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400088, India; Email: akanshasinghiips@gmail.com

Received: September 10, 2015; Accepted: October 20, 2015; Published Online: October 27, 2015
Citation: Singh A and Ladusingh L. (2016). Life expectancy at birth and life disparity: an assessment of sex differ-
entials in mortality in India. International Journal of Population Studies, vol.2(1): 38–52.
http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/IJPS.2016.02.005.

1. Introduction
1.1 Rationale
Copyright: © 2016 Akansha
Life expectancy at birth is not only a summary measure of mortality, but also an accepted indicator Singh and Laishram Ladu-
singh. This is an Open Ac-
for the development of a country (UN/DESA, UNICEF, and WHO, 2016). The sex differential in life cess article distributed under
expectancy at birth has been the focus of research in both developed and developing countries. Mor- the terms of the Creative Com-
tality gains in men and women have not been uniform (Edwards and Tuljapurkar, 2005), with males mons Attribution-NonCommer-
having higher death rates at all ages in developed nations like Denmark, Japan, and the United States cial 4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/
(Oksuzyan, Crimmins, Saito et al., 2010), and in most developing countries (United Nations, De- licenses/by-nc/ 4.0/), permitt-
partment of Economic and Social Affairs, and Population Division, 2015). In recent decades, the ing all non-commercial use,
male–female gap in life expectancy at birth in some developed nations, like the United States, rapid- distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the
ly widened and then stabilized (Edwards and Tuljapurkar, 2005). original work is properly cited.

38 International Journal of Population Studies | 2016, Volume 2, Issue 1