Temporal decomposition of life years lived with disability in India: a growing demographic concern

BACKGROUND: To draw optimal benefits of the demographic dividend, healthy life years of the young adults is a growing concern in India. Rising prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases among the younger population is responsible for increasing the life years lived with disability among them and for affecting their productivity in turn. This study measures the disability burden in various Indian sub-populations and assesses the contribution of disability to the change in person years lived with a disability during 2001–11. METHODS: Data from the Census of India, 2001 and 2011 was used for estimating the age distribution and disability prevalence among males and females. The Sample Registration System was used for age-specific mortality rate to calculate the life table for 15 states in India. Life years Lived with Disability (LLD) were estimated using the Sullivan method. The extension of Arriaga method was used to decompose change in life years lived with disability into Mortality and Disability Effect (ME and DE, respectively). Positive ME explains improvement in life years due to decline in mortality rate and a negative DE explains a decline in disability incidence in 2001–11. RESULTS: At national level, the disability prevalence has increased from 2001 to 2011. The prevalence of disability and the share of LLD to Life Expectancy (LE) is higher for males. High and medium fertility states scored highest on living with disability to LE ratio and measured DE in the decomposition analysis. At the national level, the DE increased in the age groups of 20–35 years. It was higher among the females. The states that are in the advanced stages of demographic transition show a negative DE. CONCLUSION: The study highlights expansion of DE in prime productive years of life, especially among females, in medium and high fertility states. Decline in skilled employment and productivity can be two major economic adversities due to increasing DE in working ages. Disability among young and working age population needs to be prioritised as most of the Indian states stand at crucial stages of demographic transitions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7057-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.