India’s life expectancy stood at 71 years in 2023, higher than Pakistan’s 68.2 years but lower than Bangladesh’s 72.7 years, according to the World Health Organization’s latest estimates, as reported by The Times of India.
The WHO data showed that life expectancy in the United States was 78.5 years in 2023, while Canada recorded 81.4 years.
India’s healthy life expectancy—the average number of years a person can expect to live in good health—was 60.6 years in 2023. The figure was marginally higher than 60.5 years in 2019.
India’s healthy life expectancy fell to 58.4 years in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It subsequently rose to 60.2 years in 2022 and 60.6 years in 2023.
The figures were included in the Global Health Estimates, released earlier this month. The report, published last Friday, provided data on life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, causes of death and disease burden in countries between 2000 and 2023.
The WHO said global life expectancy had returned close to pre-pandemic levels, although healthy life expectancy was taking longer to recover.
India experienced a marked difference between the recovery in overall life expectancy and healthy life expectancy during the pandemic years. India’s overall life expectancy was 70.5 years in 2019 before falling to 68.1 years in 2021.
India’s life expectancy returned to 70.5 years in 2022 and rose to 71 years in 2023, recovering 2.9 years of expected lifespan within two years.
Healthy life expectancy did not recover at the same pace. It increased by 2.2 years, from 58.4 years in 2021 to 60.6 years in 2023. The 2023 figure was only 0.1 years higher than the 2019 level.
A similar gap was recorded among older Indians. A person reaching the age of 60 in India in 2023 could expect to live another 18.8 years on average, compared with 18.4 years in 2019. Of those additional years, 13.7 years were expected to be lived in full health in 2023, up from 13.4 years in 2019.