Increasing life expectancy and convergence of age at death in India

Abstract

This paper explores the convergence of age at death inIndiain terms of average life loss using estimated single year age specific probabilities of dying as input from the Heligman Pollard equation for the Sample Registration System. ForIndiaas a whole and for all major states in the country, the average life loss is declining over time with increased life expectancy at birth, assuring convergence in age at death. The decomposition analysis found that for state with low life expectancy, improvement in infant and child mortality contributes significantly to reducing average life loss and accelerates convergence of age at death. For state with higher life expectancy, the reduction in adult and old age mortality adds to the pace of convergence of age at death. Akansha SINGH, Professor, Department of Mathematical Demography and Statistics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India. E-mail: ladusingh2010@gmail.com . Laishram LADUSINGH, International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumbai-400088, India. E-mail: akanshasinghiips@gmail.com .