If health is wealth, then wealth leads to health.

The Japanese are the healthiest old people in the world, reaching an age of 76.1 years before suffering health problems that should affect someone who is 65 years old, a study has shown. By contrast, in Papua New Guinea people contract age related problems at the age of 45.6 years. Indians get similar problems at the age of 59.6 years. Obesity, leading to Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, is a leading cause of early death. As lifestyles change in India the incidence of diabetes is also rising. Indians are more prone to diabetes than western populations because even lean people with BMI below 19 have a  higher fat content in viscera. What do people die of? Cardiovascular diseases cause 32.3% of deaths in the world, followed by cancer at 16.3%. In 2017, diarrhoea killed 1.6 million people, children being the most vulnerable. Traffic accidents and suicides are the leading causes of death in young people. India has the highest number of deaths due to diarrhoea and pneumonia among children, in the world, maybe because of our huge population. A report by Global Nutrition found that 46.6 million children in India are stunted, meaning they are malnourished, 25.5 million children are wasted. Naturally, these children are more susceptible to infectious diseases because of low immunity. "In 1900, the three leading causes of death were pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), and diarrhea and enteritis, which (together with diphtheria) caused one-third of all deaths," wrote the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the US. The incidence of these diseases have fallen due to "prevention activities, including sewage disposal, water treatment, food safety, organized solid waste disposal, and public education about hygienic practices (e.g. food handling and hand washing)." These, along with "strategic vaccination campaigns", have almost eradicated communicable diseases in the US. Life expectancy figures published by Niti Aayog, a government institution, shows that the average lifespan in Kerala is 10 years more than that in Uttar Pradesh, women living longer than men in all the states. These figures are for children who are allowed to be born and do not account for all the girls who are killed before birth, through abortion. The ratio of girls to boys is falling even in southern states, except in Kerala. India also has high rates of suicide, but what is really troubling is that rates of suicide are higher among the young and almost equal between men and women. That coincides with our high misery index due to poor economic conditions and little hope for the future. Perhaps, deaths of children and suicides will decrease if India becomes wealthier. Who knows how long that will take.