Indians Living Longer Now Than A Decade Ago

Women seem to have a longer life span than men in most of the major states. It was noted that in West Bengal and Rajasthan women lived 3.6 years longer than their male counterparts in 2008. In Tamil Nadu, women lived 3.8 years longer, in Punjab it was 4.2 years, Kerala (5.4 years), Karnataka (4.8 years), Himachal Pradesh (4.7 years), Maharashtra (4 years), Gujarat (4.1 years) and Haryana (2.5 years).

As per experts there are three major reasons for life expectancy to have increased, namely, better food supply and nutrition, healthier lifestyle and better hygiene.

A health ministry official said "More people are interested in the nutritional content of the food they eat and plan their diet accordingly. People are consciously making better lifestyle choices that reduce chances or delay the risk of developing diseases. People wash their hands more often that reduces infection rate," as reported by TOI.

Between 2006 and 2010, men were noted to be living the longest in Kerala (71.5), Jammu & Kashmir (69.2), Maharashtra (67.9), Himachal Pradesh (67.7), Punjab and West Bengal (67.4) and Tamil Nadu (67.1). Life expectancy was seen to be lowest among males in Assam (61).

Females were noted to live longest in Kerala with the average life expectancy between 2006 and 2010 at 76.9 years, followed by Himachal Pradesh (72.4), Maharashtra (71.9), Punjab (71.6) and J&K (71.1). Assam again was at the bottom of the list with an average woman expected to live till just 63.2 years.