Disability Free Life Expectancy among the Elderly

India, the world’s second most populous country, is developing alongside a rapidly graying population. Since ageing is an emerging issue in India, providing for a rapidly increasing number of disabled elderly persons is bound to be a major challenge for the government and people. In this paper we examine how much difference exists in life expectancy (LE) and disability-free life expectancy (DFLE), to examine the trend of prevalence of disabilities and the disparities in the demographic, socio and economic variables in the prevalence of disability. Data for the study was taken from the Kerala Ageing Survey conducted by Centre for Development Studies in 2004, 2007 and 2010 and Sample Registration System of India. Sullivan’s method is used to calculate Disability Free Life Expectancy (DFLE). The proportion of life expectancy free of disability decreases with age and the proportion of life expectancy to be spent in disabled state increases with age. As more and more people age and tend to develop disability, it will be a huge financial burden to individual, family and government. The paper also outlines the need for early detection and comprehensive policy interventions and social services to be extended to the elderly particularly the disabled.