Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments have a long way to go in developing their health and medical infrastructure to be on par with the best in the country, a Sample Registration System-based data on life expectancy in India released recently by the Census of India suggests.
The combined data of AP and TS for the 2010-14 period states that the life expectancy at birth of 68.5 years for a person in the two states is lower than 12 other states.
The highest life expectancy in the country is in Kerala at 74.9 years. While a male in AP and TS has a life expectancy of 66.3 years, a female has 70.8. This compared to 72 years for a male and 77.8 for a female in Kerala. Other South Indian states too have higher life expectancies than AP and TS.
One of the reasons why the life expectancy at birth of AP and TS is lower than many states is because of a high infant mortality rate (IMR), i.e. number of deaths of children less than one year old per 1,000 live births. While the IMR for AP and TS stands at 39, it is 13 for Kerala.
The life expectancy data has also revealed a stark divide in public health between rural and urban areas of AP and TS. While the life expectancy of a person in urban area of AP and TS is 72.8 years, it is much lower at 66.9 years in rural areas.
Compared to other states, the life expectancy in rural areas of AP and TS is lower than 14 states and is less than seven states in urban areas. Kerala again has the highest life expectancy of 74.9 years in rural areas, while Jammu and Kashmir has the highest in urban areas at 76.2 .
