India’s infant mortality rate has fallen to 30, but the decline has slowed in most states over the past five years. This rate is revealed by the data released from the Sample Registration System (SRS). This also shows the huge difference between the states.
According to this data, where Kerala’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is at par with the US and Madhya Pradesh’s is worse than Yemen or Sudan. What is worrying is that the slowdown in reforms has been registered in those states which have performed the worst. However, Bihar is an exception.
Infant mortality rate is defined as the death occurring before the child’s first birthday. It is the number of babies who died at one year of age or less per 1000 live births.
India’s infant mortality rate is still higher than that of Bangladesh and Nepal, both at 26 but better than Pakistan. There the infant mortality rate is 56.
Almost all states have shown improvement in infant mortality rate compared to a year ago. Between 2009 and 2014, there was a significant improvement in IMR from 50 to 39.
However, profits have slowed in the last five years. The states which have shown great improvement include Bihar, Andhra, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal.
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Kerala has been the best performing state in the last five years with a decline of 12 to 6 in IMR. This rate corresponds to the United States.
The worst performing states are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh. Due to double-digit improvement between 2009 and 2014, the pace of reforms in these states slowed down to single digits.
After Kerala, Delhi has performed better with 11, Tamil Nadu with 15. The lowest IMR 2 globally has been recorded in Finland, Norway, Iceland, Singapore and Japan.
India’s IMR in the year 2019 is about a quarter as compared to 1971 (129). According to the recently released data, the infant mortality rate in India from 2009-2019 was 50 in one thousand.
The infant mortality rate in Madhya Pradesh was 67 in 2009. In the year 2014, it had come down to 52. According to the figures of the year 2019, the infant mortality rate in Madhya Pradesh is 46. That is, there has not been much improvement between 2014 and 2019.