Estimates of life expectancy and premature mortality among multidimensional poor and non-poor in India

Background: In Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), reduction of multidimensional poverty and the increase in longevity are concomitant. Although a number of studies have estimated multidimensional poverty, studies on estimates of life expectancy and pre-mature mortality by multidimensional poverty are limited. We estimated life expectancy and premature mortality among multidimensionally poor and multidimensionally non-poor in India.

Methods: We have used the micro data of 636,699 households and 2,843,917 individuals from the National Family and Health Survey-5, 2019-21. We estimated multidimensional poverty in three dimensions-education, health, and standard of living using 11 indicators. Data on birth-history of women (15-49 years of age) and household-reported deaths was utilised to estimate deaths and person years and used to construct the life tables. The life tables were used to estimate life expectancy, premature mortality (the probability of dying before age 70), and adult mortality (the probability of dying between age 15-59) among multidimensionally poor and non-poor across socio-demographic characteristics..

Results: We estimated multidimensional poverty in India at 26%, with large variation across states and union territories. Multidimensionally poor individuals had a life expectancy at birth (LEB) 4 years lower compared to multidimensionally non-poor individuals (poor: 65.2 years vs non-poor 69.0 years). The lower life expectancy of the multidimensionally poor compared to multidimensionally non-poor was found across all the sub-categories. The difference in life expectancy at birth between multidimensionally poor and non-poor was higher among urban dwellers (4.6 years) than rural individuals (1.8 years). The premature mortality was estimated at 0.33 among the multidimensionally poor and at 0.25 among the multidimensionally non-poor. Adult mortality was estimated to be 0.17 among the multidimensionally poor compared to 0.12 among the non-poor individuals. Our findings on the differences in adult mortality and premature mortality between multidimensional poor and non-poor across socio-demographic characteristics were large.

Conclusion: Multidimensionally poor individuals had lower longevity and higher premature mortality than their multidimensionally non-poor counterparts in India. Such differences were higher by residence (rural-urban) than by caste and religion.