Economic Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases in India

Debasis Barik, National Council of Applied Economic Research

The reverberation of India’s swift progress in demographic and epidemiological transition has resulted in a bigger challenge of double burden of communicable (CDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs are often accompanied by long-standing disabilities, which have a direct economic impact on households and communities both in terms of uptake of health services and loss of income or labor productivity due to illness. With this background, the present paper seeks to foresee the changing share of non-communicable diseases among Indian population and cost associated with the treatment of the disease till 2051. National Sample Survey (2004) data on morbidity and health care along with the population, projected using component method of projection are the main data source for the analysis. The results suggest a higher shift in the disease pattern from CDs to NCDs with higher treatment cost for the same.