Dalits have shorter lifespan, finds study

The life expectancies of Adivasis and Dalits in India are significantly lower than upper-caste Hindus, a new study reported using decade-old government data on 20 million individuals from nine states.

The life expectancy differences of more than four years in Adivasis, three years in Dalits and one year among Muslims as against upper-caste Hindus could not be explained on the basis of wealth or environmental exposures, the scientists said, suggesting that the difference may be rooted in discriminatory social practices.

With economic status accounting for less than half of the life expectancy gaps, the results highlight the need to address social inequalities in India.

The researchers used India’s Annual Health Survey data from Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, representing 20 million individuals from 4 million households.

They analysed the data using sophisticated statistical tools and compared with other data sets to derive the conclusions.

“We observe lower life expectancies at birth among marginalised social groups. Adivasis have the lowest life expectancy among the four groups. Differentials between Adivasis and higher-caste Hindus are 3.7 years for women and almost five years for men,” they reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.

For the studies, the researchers clubbed OBCs (other backward classes) with upper-caste Hindus in the absence of segregated data.

“The gap between Dalits and higher-caste Hindus is of similar magnitude — more than three years for both women and men. Muslim life expectancy is about one year less than that of higher-caste Hindu,” the trio of Sangita Vyas at the University of Texas, Austin; Payal Hathi at the University of California, Berkeley; and Aashish Gupta at the University of Pennsylvania reported.

The life expectancy for Dalits and Adivasis is similar to those of the poorest countries in the world.

The overall gaps are similar to the contemporaneous Black-White gap in the USA and the Arab-Jewish gap in Israel.

Given that marginalised social groups are also poorer, the question that arises is to what extent are social group differences in life expectancy driven by economic disadvantage.

Life expectancy gaps

The study found that differences in rural residence, wealth and environmental exposures did not fully account for the life expectancy gaps between marginalised social groups and higher-caste Hindus.

In the US, observable socio-economic status characteristics explain about three-quarters of the life expectancy gap between Black and White Americans. In India, they explain less than half.

“We find that the unexplained gaps are about half a year for Muslim men, one year for Muslim women, more than two years for Adivasi women, Dalit women, and Dalit men, and more than three years for Adivasi men,” they reported.

Social disparities

To find out the reasons behind the unseen other half, the trio suggested digging deep into social disparities and exploitation as addressing the economic concerns alone won’t be sufficient to bridge the gap.

A 2020 study by scientists at the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, also came up with similar findings. The IIPS team also found differences in life expectancy among various social and religious groups, but concluded that such gaps were not linked to socio-economic status.