AN EXPLORATION OF DISABILITY FREE LIFE EXPECTANCY IN INDIA

This study made an attempt to measure the health expectancy in terms of disability free life expectancy (DFLE) by using life table techniques and Sullivan's method in India. To know the duration of life of people in a healthy state, age-specific mortality rate and disability data has been correspondingly used from Sample Registration System based life tables (1999-2003) and National Sample Survey-2002 (58th round). The total life expectancy at birth was found out to be 63 years and disability free life expectancy was 49 years. This means that an individual at the time of his/her birth is expected to live 14 years in a state of ill health. In other way, an individual is expected to live different states of disability years are locomotor (7 years), speech (1 years), visual (2 years), mental (2 years), hearing (2 years) and multiple (2 years). Males are expected to live around 16 years of life with ill health states compared to females with 13 years at birth. Persons living in urban areas are expected to live 16 years of life with ill health as reference to their rural counter parts with 14 years. Persons from the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab are expected to live more numbers of years with ill health in India. The implications of the findings were very important in health planning.