Gender Differences in Life Expectancy and Life Disparity in India

Female advantage in life expectancy in India is glaring. In this study we examine the gender differences in life expectancy and life disparity and estimated age specific mortality contribution in the gender differences. Complete life tables generated from data on death rates and abridged life tables from 1970-75 through 2006-10 from Sample Registration System (SRS) in India are used to estimate life expectancy at age x (ex), life disparity at age x (e+), threshold age at death and evaluate age with extremal impact on life disparity. General stepwise replacement algorithm is used for decomposition of both the indicators. The results indicate that the average increase in life expectancy and average decline in life disparity is higher for females. Higher threshold age at death among females resulted in increasing life disparity among males and decreasing life disparity among females for the similar age. The age having extremal impact on life disparity is higher for females. The decomposition analysis shows that the recent gender difference in life expectancy is attributed to negative contribution of adult mortality in India and difference in life disparity is attributed to positive contribution of adult mortality.