Understanding Regional Differences in healthy life-years among Older-adults of India and its Major States: An Application of ‘Years of Good life (YoGL)’ index

Ruchira Chakraborty, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

This study is an application of the novel concept of ‘Years of Good Life (YoGL)’ proposed by Lutz et al (2021) to understand sub-national patterns of well-being among older-adults in India. According to the YoGL approach, a person-year is counted as ‘good’ if it is spent out of poverty, free from severe activity limitations and cognitive impairments, and with positive life satisfaction; with an aim to blend both subjective and objective dimensions of well-being. The dimensions of YoGL are more sensitive for older age groups where physical limitations and cognitive impairments are more prevalent compared to younger age groups. Withdrawal from workforce due to age may lead to increasing poverty and poor life satisfaction. The index is further tailored with specific thresholds to ensure its relevance in the Indian context. Building on individual-level data, YoGL at a particular age is computed using Sullivan’s method at aggregated-population level. Results show at age 50, YoGL for males is 13.3 years (53.2% of remaining life expectancy) and 9.9 years (36.7% of remaining life expectancy) for females, with a significant variation across the states (9-17 years). Decomposition analysis elaborates, relative contribution of functional health across the states is highest in explaining differences in YoGL among males, for females, variation in cognitive health contributes highest.

Keywords: Population Ageing, Gender Dynamics, Health and Morbidity, Decomposition analysis

See paper.