comparsion of the life expectancy between the saarc countries
TRANSCRIPT
PROJECT OF POPULATION STUDY
A COMPARISON OF LIFE EXPECTENCIES BETWEEN SAARC COUNTRIES.
SUBMITTED TO:
MISS SADIA QAMAR
SUBMITTED BY:
HIBA QAISAR (04)
IQRA TANVEER (05)
ANWAR UL HAQ (28)
IRFAN HUSSAIN (39)
SESSION 2011-2015
Department of Statistics
UNIVERSITY OF SARGODHA, SRAGODHA.
Abstract
Life Expectancy is number of years a person is expected to live and is the hot stack issue in
whole world. The current study has been designed to evaluate the life expectancies among
SAARC countries. For this purpose SAARC country life expectancy data is collected from
World Bank. Simple bar charts were used to expose the comparison among SAARC
countries. Different factors influence on SAARC countries was also studied. The result shows
that Srilanka has larger life expectancy than other SAARC countries. Maldives rank is
second. We concluded that Sri Lanka has achieved a number of noteworthy successes in the
area of health security, Infant mortality and fertility rates have dramatically declined, and life
expectancy has increased than other SAARC countries.
Keywords: GDP, Mortality rate, Birth rate, Fertility rate, SAARC countries, Health
facilities.
Introduction
With respect to demography the scientific study of human populations primarily with respect to their size, their structure and change in their size is called populations study. For example size of population of Pakistan, how many people are economically active (male and female), educated or uneducated, age wise categories, single, married, divorced, or separated.
Life expectancy can be defined as the number of years a person is expected to live or the average period that a person mayexpected to live.
Life expectancy varies by geographical area and by era. In the Bronze Age, for example, life expectancy’s was 26 years, while in 2010, it was 67 years.
Different countries have different life expectancies through all over the world. Life expectancies differ in figures relating to region because of regional factors. The life expectancy for a particular person or population group depends on several variables such as their lifestyle, access to healthcare, diet, economical status and the relevant mortality and
morbidity data. However, as life expectancy is calculated based on averages, a person may live for many years more or less than expected.
The terms “life expectancy” and “lifespan” describe two distinctly different things, although people tend to use these terms interchangeably.
Life expectancy refers to the number of years a person is expected to live, based on the statistical average. This statistical average is calculated based on a population overall, including those who die shortly during childbirth, shortly after childbirth, during adolescence or adulthood, those who die in war and those who live well into old age.
Lifespan, on the other hand, refers to the maximum number of years that a person can potentially expect to live based on the greatest number of years anyone from the same data set has lived. Taking humans as the example, the oldest documented age reached by any living individual is 122 years, meaning humans are said to have a lifespan of 122 years.
A number of factors influence life expectancy including gender, race, exposure to pollution, education status, race, income level and healthcare access. Modifiable lifestyle factors such as exercise, alcohol status, smoking status and diet also influence life expectancy. Therefore, life expectancy is highly variable from one individual to another. However, epidemiologist and statisticians still note trends and patterns in terms of life expectancy across data sets obtained for various geographical areas.
SAARC
The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first raised in November 1980. After
consultations, the foreign secretaries of the seven founding countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka)met for the first time in Colombo in April
1981. This was followed a few months later by a meeting of the Committee of the Whole,
which identified five broad areas for regional cooperation. The foreign ministers, at their first
meeting in New Delhi in August 1983, adopted the Declaration on South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and formally launched, in 2005, Afghanistan became a
member. The Integrated Program of Action (IPA) in the five agreed areas of cooperation.
Agriculture
Rural development
Telecommunications
Meteorology
Health and population activities.
Later, transport; postal services; scientific and technological cooperation; and sports, arts,
and culture were added to the IPA.
Secretaries General of SAARC are: AbulAhsan January 16, 1987 to 15 October 1989, Kant
Kishore Bhargava October 17, 1989 to December 31,1991, Ibrahim Hussain Zaki January 1,
1992 to December 31, 1993, Yadav Kant Silwal January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1995,
Naeem U. Hasan January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1998, Nihal Rodrigo January 1, 1999 to
January 10, 2002, Q.A.M.A. Rahim January 11, 2002 to February 28, 2005, Lyonpo
Chenkyab Dorji March 1, 2005 to February 29, 2008, Sheel Kant Sharma March 1, 2008 to
present.
The geographical and climate features of all these countries are common. It was established
to work together for the betterment of this region and to remove the conflicts between these
countries, especially between Pakistan and India. So for the social and economic
development SAARC was established. One of the objectives of the SAARC was “to promote
the welfare of the peoples of SOUTH ASIA and to improve their quality of life” from article
I.
After the United States and China the combined economy of SAARC is the 3rd largest in the
world in the terms of GDP, and 5th largest in the terms of nominal GDP. SAARC nations
comprise 3% of the world's area and contain 21% (around 1.7 billion) of the world's total
population and around 9.12% of Global economy as of 2015. India makes up over 70% of the
area and population among these eight nations. All non-Indian member states except
Afghanistan share borders with India but only two other members, Pakistan and Afghanistan,
have a border with each other. During 2005-10, the average GDP growth rate of SAARC
stood at an impressive 8.8% p.a., but it slowed to 6.5% in 2011 largely because of economic
slowdown in India, which accounts for nearly 80% of SAARC's economy. But driven by a
strong expansion in India, coupled with favorable oil prices, from the last quarter of 2014
South Asia once again become the fastest-growing region in the world.
SAACR Countries Demography
Country Population Growth Rate (%) CBR CDR TFR
Pakistan 196,174,380 1.49 23.19 6.58 2.86
Bangladesh 166,280,712 1.6 21.61 5.64 2.45
Bhutan 733,643 1.13 18.12 6.78 2.02
India 1,236,344,631 1.25 19.89 7.35 2.51
Nepal 30,986,975 1.82 21.07 6.62 2.3
Sri Lanka 21,866,445 0.86 16.24 6.06 2.13
Maldives 393,595 -0.09 15.59 3.84 1.76
Afghanistan 31,822,848 2.29 38.84 14.12 5.43
Male L.E Female L.E H.E% P.D HBD L.E
65.16 69.03 2.5 0.81 0.6 67.05
68.75 72.63 3.7 0.36 0.6 70.65
68.06 69.95 4.1 0.07 1.8 68.98
66.68 69.06 3.9 0.65 0.9 67.8
65.88 68.56 5.4 0.21 4.7 67.19
72.85 79.99 3.4 0.49 3.1 76.35
72.86 77.55 8.5 1.6 4.3 75.15
49.17 51.88 9.6 0.19 0.4 50.49
PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN became an independent state in 1947; in population ranking it has 7 th position,
and it has population of 196,174,380 people.
Birth rate in Pakistan is 23.19 births/1,000 population, and its hold 70 th position in world
ranking. Death rate in Pakistan is 6.58 deaths/1,000 population, and it stands at 146 th position
in country comparison to the world. 36.2% of total population is urban population, and
annual rate of urbanization is 2.68%. Maternal mortality rate (MMR) of Pakistan is 260
deaths/100000 live births, and it is 44th position in country comparison to the world. Infant
mortality rate (IMR) of Pakistan is total 57.48 deaths/1000 live births. It has position of 25 in
country comparison to the world.
In Pakistan the total life expectancy (L.E) at birth is 67.05 years, and its rank is 167 in
country comparison, thelife expectancy of male is 65.16 years and life expectancyof female is
69.03 years. Total fertility rate of Pakistan is 2.86 children born/woman, and it contain 63th
position in country comparison to the world. Contraceptive prevalence rate was estimated is
2008 that was 27%. Pakistan spends 2.5% of total GDP on health expenditures, and its rank is
185 in country comparison to the world. Pakistan has physician’s density of 0.81
physicians/1,000 population.Hospital bed density of Pakistan is 0.6 beds/1,000
population.People affected by HIV/AIDS are approximately 86,700, its rank is 47 in country
comparison to the world, and HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate is 0.1% in Pakistan and its
rank is 166. In 2012 3,500 deaths occur because of HIV/AIDS.Major infectious diseases are
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, B and C, and typhoid fever.
Vector borne diseases are dengue fever and malaria. Animal contact disease is rabies.
Children under the age of 5 years and are underweight are 30.9% of total children population.
Pakistan spends 2.1% of its total GDP on education expenditures, and is has 54.9% literacy
rate. From which 68.6% are male and 40.3% are female. School life expectancy of Pakistan is
8 years; male school life expectancy is 8 years and female school life expectancy is 7 years.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh came into existence in 1971. It has population of 166,280,712 and its rank is 9 in
world population countries. Median age of Bangladesh is 24.3 years. The male median age is
23.8 years and female median age is 24.8 years. It has 1.6% population growth rate with 77 th
rank. Birth rate of Bangladesh is 21.61 births/1000 populationand it has 76 th position in
country comparison to the world. Death rate is 5.64 deaths/1000 populations, and it has 174th
position in country comparison to the world. Maternal mortality rate (MMR) of Bangladesh is
240 deaths/100,000 live births; it has 49th position in the country comparison to the world.
Infant mortality rate (IMR) of Bangladesh is total 45.76 deaths/1000 live births.
In Bangladesh the total life expectancy (L.E) at birth is total population is 70.65 years, and it
has country comparison, the male life expectancy is 68.75 years and female life expectancy is
72.63 years. Bangladesh has total fertility rate of 2.45 children born/woman; it has 83 th
position in country comparison to the world. Bangladesh spends 3.7% of its total GDP on
health expenditures, and has 174th position in country comparison to the world. Physician’s
density is 0.36 physicians/1,000 population. Hospital bed density is 0.6 beds/1,000
population. People affected by HIV/AIDS are approximately 8,000, it has rank of 113 in and
HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate is 0.1% and it holds 126th position in country comparison to
the world.In 2012, 400 deaths occur because of HIV/AIDS.
Major infectious diseases are food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea,
hepatitis A, B andC, and typhoid fever. Vector borne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are
high risks in some locations. Water contact disease is leptospirosis and animal contact disease
is rabies. School life expectancy of Bangladesh is 10 years, male school life expectancy is 10
years and female school life expectancy is also 10 years.
Bhutan
Bhutan has total population of 733,643 and it has 166th position in country comparison to the
world. Median age of Bhutan is 26.2 years; male median age is 26.8 years and female median
age is 25.6 years. Population growth rate is 1.13% and it has 106th rank in country
comparison to the world. It has birth rate of 18.12 births/1,000 population and it has 106 th
position is world ranking. Death rate is 6.78 deaths/1,000 populations, and it has 140th
position in country comparison to the world. Maternal mortality rate (MMR) of Bhutan 180
deaths/100,000 live births, and it has 59th position in country comparison to the world. Infant
mortality rate (IMR) is total 37.89 deaths/1,000 live births and it has 60th position in country
comparison to the world. The male infant mortality rate (IMR) is 38.34 deaths/1,000 live
births and female infant mortality rate (IMR) is 37.42 deaths/1,000 live births. Bhutan has life
expectancy of 68.98 years and it has 157th position in country comparison to the world. Male
life expectancy is 68.06 years and female life expectancy is 69.95 years. Total fertility rate
(TFR) is 2.02 children born/woman and it has 121 th position in country comparison to the
world. Bhutan spends 4.1% of its total GDP on health expenditures, and it has 162th position
in country comparison to the world. It has physicians’ density of 0.07 physicians/1,000
population. Bhutan has hospital bed density of 1.8 beds/1,000 population.
1100 people are affected by HIV/AIDS and it has 143th position in world ranking. Major
infectious diseases are food or waterborne diseases are bacterial and diarrhea, hepatitis A, and
typhoid fever. Vector borne diseases are dengue fever and malaria. School life expectancy of
Bhutan is 13 years. Male school life expectancy is 13 years and female school life expectancy
is also 13 year.
INDIA
The total population of the India is 1,236,344,631. The median age of India is 27 years, male
median age is 26.4 years and female median age is 27.7 years. Birth rate of India is 19.89
births/1,000 populations, and it has 86th position in world ranking. Death rate of India is 7.35
deaths/1,000 populations; it has 118th position in world ranking. Life expectancy of India
is 67.8 years, and it has 163th position in world ranking. The male life expectancy is 66.68
years and female life expectancy is 69.06 years. 135,500 people are affected by HIV/AID in
every year and it has 3rd position in world ranking. India spends 3.9% of its total GDP on
health expenditures and it has 167th position in world ranking. India has population growth
rate of 1.25% and it has 94th position in world ranking. It has physician’s density of 0.65
physicians/1,000 populations. Major infectious diseases are categories as, food or waterborne
diseases are bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, B & c, and typhoid fever. Vector borne diseases
are dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis and malaria, water contact disease is leptospirosis,
animal contact disease is rabies. School life expectancy of India is 12 years. The school life
expectancy of male is 12 years and female school life expectancy is 11 years.
Nepal
Nepal has the population of 30,986,975 and in population ranking is position is 42. Median
age is 22.9 years, male median age is 22.2 years and female median age is 23.6 years.
Population growth rate is 1.82% and it has 66 th position in country comparison to the world.
Birth rate of Nepal is 21.07 births/1,000 populations and it has 79th position in country
comparison to the world. Death rate is 6.62 deaths/1,000 populationand it has 144 th position
in country comparison to the world. Maternal mortality rate (MMR) is 170 deaths/100,000
live births and it has 60th position in country comparison to the world. Total infant mortality
rate (IMR) is 40.43 deaths/1,000 live births and it has 53th position in country comparison to
the world male infant mortality rate (IMR) is 40.5 deaths/1,000 live births and femaleinfant
mortality rate (IMR) is 40.35 deaths/1,000 live births. Total life expectancy at birth (LEB) is
67.19 years and it has 165th position in country comparison to the world male life expectancy
at birth (LEB) is 65.88 years and female life expectancy at birth (LEB) is 68.56 years. Total
fertility rate (TFR) is 2.3 children born/woman and it has 93th position in country comparison
to the world. Contraceptive prevalence rate is 49.7%. Nepal spends 5.4% of its GDP on
health expenditures. Physicians density is 0.21 physicians/1,000 population. Hospital bed
density is 4.7 beds/1,000 population.
People living with HIV/AIDS were 48,700 estimated in 2012 and it has 61th position in
country comparison to the world. Deaths because of HIV/AIDS were 4,100 in 2012. Major
infectious diseases are food or waterborne diseases are bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, B and
C and typhoid fever. Vector borne diseases are Japanese encephalitis, malaria, and dengue
fever. Total school life expectancy is 12 years. The male school life expectancy is 12 years
and female school life expectancy is 13 years.
Sri Lanka
The total population of the Sri Lanka is 21,866,445 and it stands at 78 th position in world
population ranking. The median age of Sri Lanka total is 31.8 years, median age of male is
30.6 years and median female age is 32.9 years. Birth rate of Sri Lanka is 16.24 births/1,000
populations and it has 122th position in world ranking. Death rate is 6.06 deaths/1,000
populations and it has 163th position in world ranking. The life expectancy of Sri Lanka
is 76.35 years, and it stands as 83th position in world ranking. The male life expectancy is
72.85 years and female life expectancy is 79.99 years. 3,000 people affected by HIV/AID,
and it has 134th position in world ranking. Sri Lanka spends 3.4% of its total GDP on health
expenditures 3.4% of GDP and it has 177th position in world ranking. Sri Lanka has
physician’s density of 0.49 physicians/1,000 population. Major infectious diseases are food or
waterborne diseases bacterial which are as “diarrhea and hepatitis”. A vector borne diseases
is dengue fever. Water contact disease is leptospirosis, and animal contact disease is rabies.
School life expectancy of Sri Lanka is 14 years; the male life expectancy is 13 years while
female life expectancy is 14 years.
Maldives
Maldives has population of 393,595. Birth rate in Maldives is 15.59 births/1,000 populations.
Death rate in Maldives is 3.84 deaths/1,000 populations. Maternal mortality rate (MMR) of
Maldives is 60 deaths/100000 live births. Infant mortality rate (IMR) of Maldives is total
24.59 deaths/1000 live births. In Maldives the total life expectancy (L.E) at birth is 75.15
years. The life expectancy of male is 72.86 years and life expectancy of female is 77.55
years. Total fertility rate of Maldives is 1.76 children born/woman. Maldives spends 8.5% of
total GDP on health expenditures. Maldives has physician’s density of 1.6 physicians/1,000
population. Hospital bed density of Maldives is 4.3 beds/1,000 populations. HIV/AIDS adult
prevalence rate is 0.1% in Maldives. School life expectancy of Maldives is 13 years, male
school life expectancy is 13 years and female school life expectancy is 13 years.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan has population of 31,822,848 and it has 42th position in the world ranking. Birth
rate in Afghanistan is 38.84 births/1,000 populations. Death rate in Afghanistan is 14.12
deaths/1,000 populations. Maternal mortality rate (MMR) of Afghanistan is 460
deaths/100000 live births. Infant mortality rate (IMR) of Afghanistan is total 117.23
deaths/1000 live births.
In Afghanistan the total life expectancy (L.E) at birth is 50.49 years. The life expectancy of
male is 49.17 years and life expectancy of female is 51.88 years. Afghanistan spends 9.6 % of
total GDP on health expenditures. Afghanistan has physician’s density of 0.19
physicians/1,000 population. Hospital bed density of Afghanistan is 0.4 beds/1,000
population. People affected by HIV/AIDS are approximately 4,300 and HIV/AIDS adult
prevalence rate is 0.1%. Major infectious diseases are bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and
typhoid fever food. Vector borne disease is malaria. Animal contact disease is rabies. School
life expectancy of Afghanistan is 9 years, male school life expectancy is 11 years and female
school life expectancy is 7 years.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A lot of work has been done about the effect of life expectancy on SAARC countries. A brief
review of the literature related to the life expectancy is provided by different researchers such
as Alamgir (1978) reviewed the location of Bangladesh and the country is described. Both
population characteristics (number of households and of women in reproductive age; labor
force and dependency ratio; sources and reliability of data; fertility, mortality, and migration;
and rural-urban distribution) and social and economic characteristics (economic status and
social stratification, literacy and education) are examined along with country policy and
actions taken .From our results we can conclude that Agriculture is the most important
activity in terms of its contribution to the gross domestic product and to employment.
Mortality has steadily declined, but economic and social conditions in rural areas appear to
have helped accelerate the population growth rate since the 1930s by encouraging a high
fertility level. Government population policies are now focused on creating a social
awareness that favors small families.
Mathers (2001) describes the methods used to produce the first estimates of healthy life
expectancy for 191 countries in 1999. These were based on estimates of the incidence,
prevalence, and disability distributions for 109 disease and injury causes by age group, sex,
and region of the world. Sullivan’s method used to compute healthy life expectancy for men
and women in each member of a country. Japan had the highest average healthy life
expectancy of 74·5 years at birth in 1999. The bottom countries are all in sub-Saharan Africa,
where the HIV-AIDS epidemic is most prevalent. Healthy life expectancy increases across
countries at faster rate than total life expectancy. Although women live longer, they spend a
greater amount of time with disability. As average levels of health expenditure per capita
increase, healthy life expectancy increases at a greater rate than total life expectancy.
Olshansky (2005) evaluated that forecasts of life expectancy are an important component of
public policy because it influences age-based power programs such as Social Security and
Medicare. Although the Social Security Administration recently raised its estimates of how
long Americans are going to live in the 21st century. Current trends in obesity in the United
States suggest that these estimates may not be accurate. From our analysis of the effect of
size on long life, we conclude that the steady rise in life expectancy during the past two
centuries may soon come to an end. Zhang (2005) construct a simple growth model where
agents with uncertain survival choose schooling time, life-cycle consumption and the number
of children. Rising longevity reduces fertility but raises saving, schooling time and the
growth rate at a diminishing rate. Cross-section analyses were used. The result exposed that
life expectancy has a significant positive effect on the saving rate, secondary school
enrollment and growth but a significant negative effect on fertility. Goni (2005) indicate that
over the last few decades many developing countries in the world, especially in Asia, have
experienced sharp decline in fertility rate. SAARC countries represent 36.5% population in
Asia and 23.1% population of the world and all of these countries have different religious,
cultural and economic backgrounds. The main objective is to make a comparative study on
the trends of fertility decline in different SAARC countries and also to see the trends of some
variables like infant mortality, per capita income, life expectancy and urbanization that
usually affect the fertility rate of a country. The results indicate that the rise in life expectancy
is the key factor of fertility decline in the SAARC countries. Parker (2011) indicates that
long life is a relatively recent phenomenon in Nepal; over the past few decades the priority in
Nepal has been reducing infant and maternal mortality. With an increasingly ageing
population and changing patterns of migration, this brings with it challenges to Nepali society
in terms of meeting the needs of an ageing population and creating a policy environment that
ensures these needs are met. This study explores some of the complexities of an ageing
population in Nepal and focuses on examining the various health and service implications to
a nation that has recently been engaged in a decade long ‘People’s War’. Zafar (2013)
studied on SAARC countries. The objective of this study is to check the impact of health on
economic growth in SAARC countries. Variables include in this study are health, GDP, life
expectancy and fertility rate. The secondary data period from 1985-2010 was used. Method
that is used for this study is Panel EGLS (Cross-section random effects). Estimation shows
that there is positive relationship between health and economic growth. There is negative
relationship between life expectancy and economic growth because when life expectancy
increase aged persons increase and burden on economy increase and economic growth
decrease. Saikia (2013) describes the changing age pattern of mortality in India during 1970–
2006. Two-dimensional flexible mortality model was applied on the data from India. This
provide further evidence of changes in country and state-level patterns of mortality
differentials by sex, and the major causes of death. We also study the contribution of major
causes of death to the female–Male mortality gap. The findings confirm that the health
advantage of Indian females over males has been growing since the 1980s.
Methodology
This study is conducted to compare the life expectancies among SAARC countries. Simple
bar charts were used to compare the results .The data were collected from Index Mundi and
which were from 2000 -2012.
Results and Conclusion
Figure -1 Figure-2
Figure-3 Figure -4
Figure-5 Figure-6
Figure-7 Figures-8
Conclusion
From this study we conclude that life expectancy of Pakistan was 67.05 in 2014 and ranked
by 7th position .Life expectancy is increasing due to different reasons such as high fertility
rate, Family Welfare, Reproductive health Service Centre, development in industrialization,
improved economic status, proper medication and development in agriculture has increased
life expectancy. Many factors influence Pakistan‘s life expectancy such as impure water,
poverty, starvation, environmental pollution, natural disaster, careless driving, political
workers clashes and terrorist attacks. Bangladesh life’s expectancy was 70.65 in 2014 and
ranked by 3rd position ,which is increasing due to many reasons such as fertile land, health
facilities, improved nutrition and most valuable climate. Many factors influenced life
expectancy of Bangladesh such as poverty, flood, heavy rains, water and sanitation problems
occur due to increasing life expectancy. India life expectancy was 67.8 in 2014 and ranked by
5th position. India is Polio free country and Indian economy is the world’s seventh - largest by
nominal GDP and third -largest by purchasing power parity hence India life expectancy has
improved. India’s air pollution, ranked among the world’s worst country. India is continuous
to facing poverty, Malaria, corruption terrorism. Life expectancy of Srilanka was 76.35 in
2014 and ranked by 1st position, which is increasing because Sri Lanka has achieved a
number of noteworthy successes in the area of health security, mortality and fertility rates
have dramatically declined. Srilanka has also some issues like all earning is mostly done from
farm activities hence Srilanka has been experiencing moderate growth in GDP. Srilanka is
facing poverty issue, specifically rural poverty. Poor economies of scale, low investment
levels, limited technology has bad influence on economy. Maldives life expectancy was
75.15 in 2014 and ranked by 2nd position. From 1990 to 2000 the government focused on the
immunization system in the Maldives children. So improvement in the immunization power
has increased children life expectancy. Fisheries, tourism, trade, and transport (shipping)
have improved the economy and also increased the GDP due to which life expectancy has
increased. The Maldives is one of the world's poorest developing countries so it is threatened
by global warming because of its very low elevation. The other constraints Maldives faces
are small and widely dispersed island communities, limited skilled human resources, and
rapid population growth. Afghanistan life expectancy was 50.49 in 2014 and ranked by 8 th
position. Afghans are living longer, fewer infants are dying and more women are surviving
childbirth because healthcare has dramatically improved around the country in the past
decade, according to a national survey. Increased access to healthcare, more hospitals, clinics
and doctors have significantly contributed to an overall improvement in the health of most
Afghans. Afghanistan faces enormous problems like war, civil conflict and frequent natural
disasters which have reduced agricultural productivity. Insecurity is a major and growing
concern. Military operations have affected food security in some regions and have reduced
agricultural productivity. Bhutan life expectancy was 68.98 in 2014 and ranked by 4th
position. Bhutan is most populated country. The economy is based on agriculture and forestry
and provides the livelihoods for 90 percent of the population. A large percentage of
Bhutanese are rural residents who live in houses built to withstand the long, cold winters,
with wood-burning stoves for both heat and cooking so they have not good facilities. Bhutan
suffers from a shortage of medical. Life expectancy of Nepal was 67.19 in 2014 and ranked
by 6th position. Nepal has made dramatic progress in increasing the average life-expectancy
of its citizens – mainly due to a sharp drop in maternal and child mortality by better access to
health care, education, nutrition and immunization. The growth in life expectancy is also a
result of Nepal’s dramatically decreasing fertility rate.
References
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GONI, A., & RAHMATULLAH IMON, A. H. M. (2005). On the decline in fertility: A comparative study among SAARC countries. Man in India, 85(1-2), 93-102.
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Olshansky, S. J., Passaro, D. J., Hershow, R. C., Layden, J., Carnes, B. A., Brody, J., ... &
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