E-Paper
Life expectancy of women in Delhi 76, men 73: Report
The report, “Women and Men in Delhi, 2023”, has been prepared by the Delhi government’s directorate of economics and statistics
The life expectancy at birth for males in Delhi is 73 years and it is 76.2 years for females, both a little over four-and-a-half years longer than their counterparts at the national level, according a report released by Delhi government which compiles gender statistics across various sectors.
It also said that anaemia among women in the age-group 15-49 years has dropped a considerable 4.4 percentage points – from 54.3% in 2015-16 to 49.9% in 2019-21 – while it was rising at the national level (from 53.1% to 57%) in the same time period.
The report, “Women and Men in Delhi, 2023” prepared by the Delhi government’s directorate of economics and statistics, compiles gender disaggregated data in six sectors: population statistics, health statistics, education statistics, participation in economy, women empowerment and crime against women.
To be sure, this report is purely based on secondary data obtained from various government sources that have been previously published, but have been compiled.
This compilation, Delhi government officials said, was released on Friday after a gap of 12 years. “The last report on gender statistics was published by the Delhi government in 2011. The government of India publishes gender statistics every year, but the Delhi government does it usually once in a decade. The Delhi government report is based on secondary data obtained from various sources including national family health survey, unified district information system for education plus, among others,” said the official.
Number of female students per 100 male students in Delhi in important programmes has increased from 84 (in 2012-13) to 90 (2020-21) in Ph.D, 73 to 102 at the post graduate level in the same period, 103 to 111 in under graduate courses, 51 to 73 in PG diploma, and 53 to 84 in diploma programme in regular mode of education.
Demographic projections
As per population projections, the total population of Delhi during the year 2036 will be 26.6 million out of which 12.6 million will be females and 14 million will be males. The sex ratio of Delhi is constantly improving post independence, and as per population projections, during the year 2036 the sex ratio of Delhi and India will be 899 and 952 respectively.
A significant decrease has been observed in Delhi in anaemia among women in the age group 15-49 years – from 54.3% in 2015-16 to 49.9% in 2019-21. At the national level, this proportion has increased from 53.1% in 2015-16 to 57% in 2019-21, the report said.
As per NFHS reports, the proportion of adult male who are obese in Delhi has increased from 24.6% during 2015-16 to 38.0% in 2019-21. Similarly, in adult females also, the proportion has increased from 33.5% to 41.3% during the same reference period.
Gender Parity Index (GPI), which measures relative access to education between males and females, in higher education has declined from 1.16 in 2018-19 to 1.04 in 2020-21; and under professional courses, medicine seems to be the most opted course during the year 2017-18 and this trend was more apparent among females. Of the total men pursuing professional courses, 43% were in medicine, while this proportion was 76.8% for females.
In Delhi, females are more attracted towards the profession of teaching than males especially at primary level, from 2012-13 to 2021-22, number of female teachers per 100 male teachers increased from 363 to 410. From 2012-13 to 2021-22, number of female teachers per 100 male teachers at higher Secondary level increased from 152 to 169.
Women in judiciary and police
Based on the data from the Union ministry of law and justice, the report stated that the approved judge strength in Supreme Court was 34, of which 31 were male and three were female judges as on June 1, 2023. Out of 60 approved judge strength in Delhi high court, 38 were male and 10 were female judges in June, 2023.
The Delhi Police, meanwhile, has 10,720 women in its police force out of 90,523 total number of police strength as on January 1, 2021, the report said referring to data of bureau of police research and development. Among the 10,720 female force, 9,584 women in are civil police and 554 women in special armed police battalion, 248 are in traffic police, 143 in special operations group unit, 96 were in crime investigation department and 95 in special branch dealing with intelligence.
In 2015, Delhi has six female MLAs and the number increased to eight after the 2020 assembly elections; and Delhi has only one female MP among the seven seats since 1999.
Niharika Rai secretary planning Delhi government, said the report has been prepared with the objective to provide variety of available gender statistics at one place to serve as a single platform for accessing gender statistics.
“Improving the availability and use of gender statistics to inform policy is crucial for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Gender analysis that reveals differences and similarities between women and men, girls and boys relies on disaggregated data. The present report provides relevant statistical information on the status of women and men in Delhi, highlighting the current situation and changes over time. DES collects sex-disaggregated statistics from various departments/agencies,” said Rai.
