WHO data shows Indians outlive Pakistanis but trail Bangladeshis in life expectancy

Key facts

• WHO's Global Health Estimates show India's life expectancy at birth was 71 years in 2023, compared with 68.2 years in Pakistan, 72.7 years in Bangladesh, 78.5 years in the US and 81.4 years in Canada.
• India's healthy life expectancy was 60.6 years in 2023, up from 60.5 years in 2019, after falling to 58.4 years in 2021 and recovering to 60.2 years in 2022.
• India's life expectancy fell from 70.5 years in 2019 to 68.1 years in 2021, then rose to 70.5 years in 2022 and 71 years in 2023, regaining 2.9 years of expected lifespan in two years, while healthy life expectancy recovered by only 2.2 years to 60.6 years, just 0.1 year above the 2019 level.
• At age 60, an Indian could expect another 18.8 years of life in 2023, up from 18.4 years in 2019, with 13.7 of those years expected in full health, up from 13.4 years in 2019.
• India's disease profile reversed: communicable diseases fell from nearly 62% of the combined death rate from the top 10 causes in 2000 to 16% by 2023, while non-communicable diseases rose from 34% to nearly 75%.
• In 2000, tuberculosis and diarrhoeal diseases topped India's causes of death with 92.4 and 87.8 deaths per 100,000 population; by 2023, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke and diabetes led with rates of 138.5, 83.19, 74.8 and 49.01 respectively.
• Globally, non-communicable diseases accounted for 74% of deaths in 2023, up from 58% in 2000, with eight of the world's 10 leading causes of death being NCDs.
• Global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, almost back to the 73.4 years of 2019, while healthy life expectancy stood at 62.8 years, still 0.4 years below its 2019 level.