Inequality in Life Expectancy-Acceleration due to COVID-19

Abstract

The study of inequality in life expectancy by socio-economic groups has been receiving more and more attention with the rise in inequality. The present study investigates the prevailing situation in Bangladesh by using the age-specific mortality data available from various sources like the Sample Vital Registration System(SVRS) of the BBS and the Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Survey. The BBS, however, has been presenting a life table by sex, and there is a disparity in life expectancy in favour of females presently by three years. Rural life expectancy was lower in Bangladesh from 1981-to 2014, after which it exhibited that the difference in rural and urban life expectancy is being narrowed down. In India, the life expectancy at birth is slightly more than one year higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Life expectancy at birth was computed for seven regions (administrative divisions) using the age-specific mortality rates given in SVRS reports. For the year 2016, the highest value of life expectancy at birth (73.9 years) was found for the Rajshahi division, followed by Khulna division(73.5 years), Rangpur(73.0 years), Barisal(72.8 years), Sylhet(72.6 years) and the lowest for Chattogram division(72.1 years). We also compared the life expectancy and Household average income of the administrative divisions as obtained in the HIES 2016. No systematic relationship between household income and life expectancy was observed. Analysing the mortality of BMMCHS between 2010 and 2016, the life expectancy increased with the increase in wealth quintile for both males and females. The difference in life expectancy between the richest and poorest quintile of the male was 3.37 years, and for females, it was 1.34 years. But the much higher difference in life expectancy at birth between the richest and poorest quintile has been observed in other countries like India, the United Kingdom, the United States and Norway.