For the duration of this class, I have finally elected to study India as the country I embark on studying as a result of being an American – born Indian individual.

Starting off by being 49th in under – 5 mortality, I can already tell that although there is a sense of living in the country however, the living standards may not be up to par. This idea continues to be supported by the idea that the average life expectancy comes out to be 66.2 as of 2012. From this as well I can see that there is slightly lower life expectancy as a result whereas countries such as the U.S. average out to be around 78.8 which is almost a 13-year difference in comparison.

Survivability is not only limited to the variables of age and life expectancies. The effectiveness of a disease or such can involve aspects such as socioeconomic statuses, literacy rates, social infrastructure, and plenty others. For starters the adult literacy rate across India between 2008 – 2012 averages out to be 62.8%. The first thing to note is that most of India’s social infrastructure has seen an uprise and the trajectory of the data given by Unicef supports this. However, even as things currently stand, the data can only suggest that around 30 – 40% of India does not meet the bare standards of literacy across the board. Therefore, we could be studying an uninformed demographic who has several aspects working against it as the statistics suggest a trend of relatively lower life expectancies, and higher mortality rates.

Furthermore, this can be seen to be a result of the net attendance ratio at schools in India. These statistics show that while 58.5% of males attend schools in India, only 48.7% of females attend schools in India. This to me is relatively shocking. I am not necessarily too surprised by the idea that there are still more males in schools than females, however I definitely did not expect the difference or gap between the two genders to be so wide.

While the economic indicators suggest that 32.7% of the population below the poverty line, the women section shows that the life expectancy of females as a percentage of males in India is almost 106%. This is insane to me, clearly showing that several variables in India point towards women being more prone to falling ill to various extents. Onwards, I began to analyze the disparities by residence and household wealth, alongside the rate of progress as a whole. Showing a fertility rate with a downward trajectory, as the most recent measurement amounting to 2.5, and the use of improved sanitation facilities for urban individuals still is only 59.7%. Finally, while males informed of HIV read to be around 30%, females that are informed only read up to be around 24%.

Ultimately these statistics suggest to me that this country may lack the infrastructural support in general in order to keep individuals clean and safe long – term.