India: Health of the Nation’s States

This report is a collaborative effort between the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. It presents Disease Burden Trends in the States of India from 1990 to 2016.

Key Findings: Life expectancy at birth improved in India from 59.7 years in 1990 to 70.3 years in 2016 for females, and from 58.3 years to 66.9 years for males, with continuing inequalities between states.

• The per person disease burden measured as DALYs rate dropped by 36% from 1990 to 2016 in India.
• While the disease burden rate in India has improved since 1990, it was 72% higher per person than in Sri Lanka or China in 2016.
• Of the total disease burden in India measured as DALYs, 61% was due to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases in 1990, which dropped to 33% in 2016.
• There was a corresponding increase in the contribution of non-communicable diseases from 30% of the total disease burden in 1990 to 55% in 2016, and of injuries from 9% to 12%.
• Of the total disease burden in India in 1990, a tenth was caused by a group of risks including unhealthy diet, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, and overweight, which mainly contribute to ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. The contribution of this group of risks increased massively to a quarter of the total disease burden in India in 2016.
• The other significant contributor to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, as well as to cancers and some other diseases, is tobacco use, which was responsible for 6% of the total disease burden in India in 2016.