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Data Intelligence Report

How Long Indians Live:
Life Expectancy by State, 1993–2023

Life expectancy at birth for men, women and everyone, in rolling five-year periods from the Sample Registration System. See how much longer Indians now live, which States have caught up, and where the gap between women and men stands.

Source: SRS Abridged Life Tables, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner
Show
Period
India
–
Highest
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Lowest
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Gap between States
–
highest minus lowest State
Women’s advantage, India
–
years women outlive men
Nine More Years of Life
India’s life expectancy at birth, years, by five-year period
Trend
Each point is a five-year average (e.g. 2019-23), so the COVID-19 years 2020–21 pull down every period that includes them.
Are States Converging?
Gap between highest and lowest State and spread across States, years
Inequality
Based on the 16 States covered in every period since 1993-97 (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand are inside their parent States until 2009-13). Spread = standard deviation.
Map
Shaded by the selected measure and period. Hover for values; click a covered State for its profile.
Map
SRS life tables cover the larger States only; States shown in dark outline are not covered. Before they were reported separately, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Telangana and Ladakh are shaded with their parent State’s figure. Circles mark small UTs. Colours run from the lowest to the highest State in the selected period. Map: State boundaries from the DataMeet India community (CC BY 4.0), consistent with the official boundary of India as per the Survey of India; simplified for display, not to scale.
Ranking
Years
Ranking
Dashed line = India. Teal = above India, coral = below.
Women and Men, State by State
Life expectancy of men (blue) and women (pink), years
Gender
Sorted by the gap between women and men. Where the pink point sits left of the blue one, men outlive women.
Years Gained
Change since the first available period
Gains
For States first reported later (e.g. Telangana from 2014-18), the change is measured from their first period.
The COVID-19 Setback
Change between 2015-19 (before the pandemic) and 2019-23 (including it), years
Pandemic
2015-19 is the last period with no pandemic years; 2019-23 contains 2020 and 2021. Follows the Show selection above.
State Profile
Men, women and total for one State, every period
Profile
State Life Expectancy Table
Years · click a heading to sort · search by name
Full Dataset
“First” is the first period with data (1993-97 for most States). F − M = women’s minus men’s life expectancy in the selected period.
Key Findings
⏳

Indians live nine years longer

Life expectancy at birth rose from 61.1 years in 1993-97 to 70.3 in 2019-23. Women gained more (61.8 to 72.5) than men (60.4 to 68.5), widening women’s advantage from 1.4 to 4.0 years.

📉

Lagging States have caught up

Odisha (+13.4 years), Madhya Pradesh (+12.2) and Assam (+11.7) gained most; Kerala, already highest, gained 1.9. Among the 16 States covered since 1993-97, the gap between Kerala and Madhya Pradesh fell from 17.8 to 7.5 years.

⚖️

Women now outlive men everywhere

In 1993-97 men outlived women in Bihar (by 2.0 years), Uttar Pradesh (1.2) and Madhya Pradesh (0.4). By 2019-23 women live longer in every State, but by only 0.8 years in Bihar against 7.1 in Himachal Pradesh.

🦠

A pandemic dent in the north-west

Between 2015-19 and 2019-23, life expectancy fell in Punjab (−2.0 years), Delhi (−1.7) and Haryana (−1.1). Kerala (75.1) still leads; Chhattisgarh (64.6) is lowest, a gap of 10.5 years.

Source: Sample Registration System (SRS) Abridged Life Tables, various issues, Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (Table 7: State-wise Life Expectancy, years). Notes: Figures are life expectancy at birth for overlapping five-year periods. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh include Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand until 2009-13; Andhra Pradesh includes Telangana until 2013-17; Jammu & Kashmir includes Ladakh. Two published values look like source errors and are shown as published: Tamil Nadu women in 2001-05 (65.7, against 68.2 and 69.2 in neighbouring periods) and Haryana men in 2006-10 (67.0, against about 65 either side).
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