India's financial capital, a city that never sleeps, Bollywood's capital - that's Mumbai. In the words of the late Raj Kapoor: `Yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan.'Well, a new study has shown that stress, unhealthy living style and sprawling slums are drastically pulling down the lifespan graph of Mumbaikars. In short, people in Mumbai die younger compared to the national average.

The recently published Human Development Report 2009 prepared by the National Resource Centre for Urban Poverty and the All India Institute of Local Self Government, Mumbai , shows that the average Mumbaikar is likely to die at least seven years before other Indians and about 12 years before people living in the rest of Maharashtra.

According to The Times of India which quoted the report, Mumbaikars on an average live to the age of 56.8 years. Life expectancy is 52.6 years for men and 58.1 years for women - against the national average of 63.7 years for both males and females.

Some of the reasons for this decline in lifespan are: Mental stress, lack of physical exercise, lack of hygiene, slums and poor dietary habits.

Most deaths reported in Mumbai are due to heart attacks followed by tuberculosis , cancer, kidney failure and HIV/AIDS. In 2006, heart attacks claimed 12,606 lives against 11,921 in 2005. Similarly, TB claimed 9,490 deaths in the city against 8,836 TB deaths in 2005. In 2006, cancer and kidney failure led to 6,212 and 2,190 deaths respectively.

Quoting doctors, the TOI report said stress, both physical and mental, is leading to an increase in non-communicable diseases like hypertension , diabetes and heart diseases that are especially affecting the city's youth.

Eating irregularly and eating junk food, lethargy, less sleep and long hours of commuting worsen the problem.

Tuberculosis, widely known as the poor man's disease, is also a cause of worry. The prevalence of TB in Mumbai is high due to unhygienic living conditions, air pollution and smoking. The huge migration to Mumbai should also be factored in.

There is also a rising trend in the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Mumbai. It was 0.04 per 1,000 live births in 1997 and it rose to 0.09 in 1999 to 0.16 in 2002 and 0.63 in 2006. In 2007, the MMR was 1.5 per 1,000 live births with 244 recorded maternal deaths.

Experts also say that one of the main reasons for Mumbai faring poorly on the life expectancy parameter is because around 60% of the city's population lives in slums in unhygienic conditions.

Source: India Syndicate