Average life expectancy at birth in Bangladesh rose to 72 years in 2017 from 71.6 in 2016, according to the national statistical agency.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics or BBS published the Report on Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2017 on Wednesday.
Male life expectancy increased slightly to 70.6 years from 70.3 in a year while female life expectancy rose to 73.5 years from 72.9.
“Our analysis shows that the gain in life expectancy is somewhat pronounced among the females than those among the males resulting from a higher survival advantage in favour of females,” AKM Ashraful Haque, who headed the team of surveyors, said in the report.
The BBS said life expectancy in Bangladesh has increased by 0.32 years per year on average.
ICDDR,B Emeritus Scientist Dr Abdur Razzaque said at a programme marking the publication that the drop in infant mortality rate might have pushed the life expectancy at birth up, reports bdnews24.
“Besides this, many critical diseases can be treated in Bangladesh now,” he added.
Ashraful said the study found the population of the country was 162.7 million, with 81.4 million male and 81.3 million female.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was also present at the programme.