Mumbai: Maharashtra may rank among India’s more progressive states in terms of life expectancy and purchasing power, but its older residents spend far fewer of their remaining years in good health and well-being, says a new study from the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Deonar.Published in ‘Social Indicators Research’, the study ranks Maharashtra 21st among 21 states on a relatively new measure called ‘Years of Good Life’ (YoGL) for people aged 60. “This is surprising because Maharashtra ranks fourth on the Human Development Index (HDI),’’ said Prof Dr Srinivas Goli at IIPS and one of the study’s authors.It’s the first time the YoGL indicator, designed to go beyond GDP and HDI, has been calculated for India’s states. YoGL counts a year as “good” when four conditions are met: the person is above poverty, has no functional limitations, is free from cognitive impairment and is satisfied with life.Researchers from IIPS, the University of Vienna and Princeton University used data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India and mortality data from the Sample Registration System to estimate YoGL across 21 states.At the national level, a 60-year-old man can expect about 8.2 good years out of 17.5 remaining years, while a woman can expect only 5.7 good years out of 19. Urban residents can expect 9.2 good years, compared with 6.1 for rural residents. Rural women are the most vulnerable, with just 4.6 good years out of 18.5 remaining years.Punjab tops on every count, with men recording 12.9 good years at 60. Kerala does best by rural women, who get 10.1 good years. West Bengal records the lowest figure for women, 3.8 years, and Bihar is weak — even its urban residents manage only 7.5.The Maharashtra figures are worrisome. Rural women aged 60 can expect just 2.7 good years— the lowest share among the states studied. Across Maharashtra, only about 21% of women’s remaining life at 60 is expected to be “good”.The researchers describe Maharashtra as an “urban health paradox”. While healthcare infrastructure concentrated in major cities may contribute to longevity gains, sections of the population, including rural residents and slum dwellers, face functional limitations and poverty.“Men and women are losing good life through completely different doors,” said study’s lead author Dr Ruchira Chakraborty. “For men it is the body — heavy manual work and chronic disease that erode functional health early. For women it is cognition, and that traces back decades, to schooling they never received.’’She, however, said southern states, which invested in girls’ education generations ago, are collecting the “dividend now in sharper, healthier older women”.
