

Life expectancy in India goes up by 5 years in a decade - linux_devil
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/29528135.cms

======
tokenadult
This is good news. The worldwide trend for more than a century is that the
countries that are now developed countries have been gaining about 2.5 years
of life expectancy each decade (sometimes expressed as "six hours each
day").[0]

Girls born since 2000 in the developed world are more likely than not to reach
the age of 100, with boys likely to enjoy lifespans almost as long. The
article "The Biodemography of Human Ageing"[1] by James Vaupel, originally
published in the journal Nature in 2010, is a good current reference on the
subject. Vaupel is one of the leading scholars on the demography of aging and
how to adjust for time trends in life expectancy. An article in a series on
Slate, "Why Are You Not Dead Yet? Life expectancy doubled in past 150 years.
Here’s why,"[2] gives background on the incremental changes that have
increased life expectancy. ("Period life expectancy" is what is usually
reported for a whole country. But cohort life expectancy provides a better
estimate of future lifespans of young people today,[3] and is still steadily
on the rise around the world.) Life expectancy at age 40, at age 60, and at
even higher ages is still rising throughout the developed countries of the
world.[4] It's great to hear that India is enjoying this kind of development
too.

[0]
[http://www.prb.org/Journalists/Webcasts/2010/humanlongevity....](http://www.prb.org/Journalists/Webcasts/2010/humanlongevity.aspx)

[1] [http://www.demographic-
challenge.com/files/downloads/2eb51e2...](http://www.demographic-
challenge.com/files/downloads/2eb51e2860ef54d218ce5ce19abe6a59/dc_biodemography_of_human_ageing_nature_2010_vaupel.pdf)

[2]
[http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_...](http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_longevity/2013/09/life_expectancy_history_public_health_and_medical_advances_that_lead_to.html)

[3]
[http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1...](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1963392_1963367,00.html)

[4]
[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=longevity-w...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=longevity-
why-we-die-global-life-expectancy)

~~~
benched
Are longer lifespans better by definition? I realize fully I'm in the minority
on this, and y'all can feel free to live forever, for all I care, but I wish
that my personal life expectancy was about 40 years shorter than it is. That
would have felt about right to me. Complete, and without too much decline. I
mean, is everybody's desired lifespan just "as long as possible?"

~~~
reeses
You don't want to live half your life as an over-60 geriatric, with daily
pains, vocational ostracisation, inadequate income, and decreasing social
relevance?

Mind you, some would bin that in with the douchey "I wouldn't want to live if
I became paraplegic/deaf/blind," but I do fear that, given how crappy it is to
be 75 today, it's not going to be senior Disneyland by the time I'm old.
Older.

Put my brain in a jar and I might have a different perspective, but I've seen
enough family members admit they're just _tired_ and want to go when their
time comes.

~~~
shawabawa3
I'm pretty sure most over 60s aren't in pain and friendless.

My dad is over 70 and is completely fit, healthy, independent and pain free.
Sure, not all old people have it so good, but with increased live expectancy
comes increased quality of life at older ages

------
konspence
"If your child was born in the last couple of years, he or she is likely to
live five years more than children born a decade ago."

Isn't this a huge misrepresentation of the statistics behind this article?

~~~
beerglass
Yes, the author needs to take Statistics 101..

~~~
raghuinc
Thats the Times of India group. They need to take 101 in everything.

------
csense
Usually, large increases in life expectancy are from reductions in infant
mortality.

Medical technology has increased the maximum age of humans surprisingly
little; for example Ramesses II died at the age of 90 or 91 [1].

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_ii](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_ii)

------
netcan
Any demographers on HN? 'Life expectancy' is itself like GDP of health, a
complicated scorecard that includes a lot of things. I would be real
interested in an accessible breakdown of demographic ideas

 _' Infant mortality ratio has come down to 42 in 2012 from 58 per 1,000 live
births in the 2005.'_

My back-of-the-envelope has this contributing 1 year to life expectancy at
birth. Additional (surviving babies _average lifetime) /1000 = (58-42)_65/1000

 _" Maternal mortality ratio has declined from 301 per 100,000 live births in
2001-03 to 212 in 2007-09," the health ministry said._ \- I think this
contributes another 4-5 months.

I'd also be interested in some related questions & gratuitous scifi-like
speculations. When are we likely to see 60 year old sports stars. Bernard
Hopkins seems to be intent on becoming a 50 year old undisputed boxing
champion. When are we likely to see 100 year olds working productively,
enjoying physical hobbies, sexually active, sexually attractive…

:)

------
deepuj
India's demographics is extremely skewed. There are some states that have had
higher life expectancy and sex ratio than countries like the US. The higher
overall numbers can be attributed to the poorer states doing better over time.

------
JoshTriplett
Halfway there; now we just need it to go up by a decade every decade,
retroactively.

~~~
mathattack
Escape velocity here we come! I hope we hit this before I'm 80. I'm ok with 50
as my terminal age. Maybe even 60. I don't want to be terminal when I need a
new hip every few years.

~~~
maxerickson
This is a story of controlling disease and decreasing childhood and infant
mortality. It is not a story of life extension.

~~~
mathattack
Of course - I'm just running with the singularity dream.

------
bruceb
Now they just need more women (or less men?)

------
nether
I wonder if the people are also happier.

------
CmonDev
This is obviously good news, but I guess the fight with overpopulation is
over.

~~~
dmnd
We're winning that fight, though it's not yet over:
[http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/#section=myth-
three](http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/#section=myth-three)

A quick summary is that lowering child mortality actually reduces the
fertility rate, causing population growth to slow. Longer lifespans mean fewer
people.

------
lijman
I love India!

~~~
skrebbel
Hey, welcome to Hacker News!

When I first came here, I was surprised that people downvoted my comments, so
here's just a heads-up in case you wonder about the same: people didn't
downvote your comment because they don't love India, or because they don't
love that you do - they downvoted your comment because it does not
meaningfully contribute to the discussion.

Additionally, some may wonder, do you completely, absolutely, love India? That
seems like a rather black-and-white attitude for a forum like HN. Or are there
things about India that you hate, too? Things that don't make you love it less
but still could be better? Maybe some that relate to the subject of this post?
That would be a place to start.

~~~
kamakazizuru
Actually - he posted something snarky about how this is no big deal
considering the poverty, rape, sanitation etc issues that India has - and got
majorly downvoted for that - and then seems to have edited it to something
else.. While a message like "I love X" wouldnt contribute to the discussion -
it's usually likely to just be ignored - but not so severely downvoted. Lastly
- for the sake of the argument - "love" is anyways not black and white - so
someone saying they love something doesn't mean they are making a blanket
statement!

~~~
lijman
Patriotism is not something which needs to be proved on blogs or twitter.If
you think poverty or rape has nothing to do with sex ratio of a country then
the joke is on you.A valid argument(fact)was made,it was rubbished by
"patriotic" people and I showed my patriotism.Sarcasm?

PS- the HN account is just new but I've been long time visitor and referring
India as "it" respectful?

~~~
kamakazizuru
no one is saying that there are no other issues in India. However - none of
what you're bringing up has to do with increased life expectancy. I'd accept
this argument if it was 70 year olds going out and raping. That said - I do
wish that rapists weren't born or suffered infant mortality- but then again -
I'm sure there were things that went wrong in their lives that made them be as
screwed up as they turned out.

