India is one of the most rigidly stratified societies in the world, yet little is known about life expectancy disparities in the country. We provide direct estimates of social differences in life expectancy in India using survey data spanning two decades. We show that individuals from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have drastically and persistently lower life expectancies than high-caste individuals (between 4.2–4.4 years for women and 6.1–7.0 years for men in 2013–2016). While Muslims had a modest life expectancy disadvantage compared to high castes in 1997–2000, this disadvantage has grown substantially over the past 20 years. Mortality disparities between marginalized and privileged social groups are present across the entire life-course and are increasingly driven by older-age mortality. Our findings reveal a pressing need for far greater attention to the health of marginalized populations in India.

中文翻译：

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印度社会群体之间的巨大而持久的预期寿命差异

印度是世界上分层最严格的社会之一，但对该国的预期寿命差异知之甚少。我们使用跨越 20 年的调查数据对印度的预期寿命社会差异进行了直接估计。我们表明，来自在册种姓和在册部落的人的预期寿命大大低于高种姓的人（2013-2016 年女性为 4.2-4.4 岁，男性为 6.1-7.0 岁）。虽然与 1997 年至 2000 年的高种姓相比，穆斯林在预期寿命方面处于适度劣势，但这种劣势在过去 20 年中大幅增长。边缘化和特权社会群体之间的死亡率差异存在于整个生命过程中，并且越来越多地受到老年死亡率的驱动。