Infant mortality data: Kerala comparable with US, but MP worse than Yemen

Infant mortality rate (IMR) in India dropped to 30 per thousand live births for the year 2019, but there is huge variance in figures among various states and Union territories, according to latest annual demographic survey conducted by the Office of the Registrar General.

The present level of IMR is about one-fourth as compared to 1971 (129 infant deaths per thousand live births). In the last ten years, IMR has witnessed a decline of about 34 per cent in both rural and urban areas, data from the sample registration survey shows. 

The IMR at all-India level has declined from 47 to 30 in the last decade. The corresponding decline in rural areas is 51 to 34, and for urban areas it is from 31 to 20, the data show.

In the past five years, however, the decline has slowed down in most states, the SRS data show. They reveal the enormous differences between states, with Kerala’s IMR figures comparable to the US and Madhya Pradesh faring worse than even Yemen or Sudan. 

It is the worst-off states in which the slowdown in improvement is most marked, Bihar being an exception. 

Overall India’s IMR is still worse than Bangladesh’s and Nepal’s, both at 26, though better than Pakistan’s (56). 

All states have shown improvement in IMR from the year before. However, after showing remarkable improvement of 11 points from 50 to 39 from 2009 till 2014, it has slowed down in the last five years. 

Among larger states showing accelerating improvement are Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal. In the case of Kerala, after stagnating at an IMR of 12 from 2011 till 2015, it improved to six in the last five years, a level that matches that of the US.

States that saw the greatest slowing down in improvement of their IMR are Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. From double digit improvement between 2009 to 2014, the pace of improvement in these states slowed down to single digit. 

Birth Rate

A crude measure of fertility of a population but a crucial determinant of population growth, birth rate gives the number of live births per

thousand population in a given region and year.

The birth rate at the national level declined drastically over the last four decades from 36.9 in 1971 to 19.7 in 2019. The rural-urban differential also narrowed over these years. 

However, the birth rate continued to be higher in rural areas compared to urban areas in the last four decades.

It declined by about 11 per cent in the last decade, from 22.1 in 2010 to 19.7 in 2019. The corresponding decline in rural areas was 23.7 to 21.4, and for urban areas from 18 to 16.4.

For 2019, the birth rate for India varied from 16.4 in urban regions to 21.4 in rural regions. The highest birth rate was recorded in Bihar (25.8) while the lowest in Andaman & Nicobar Islands (11.0).

Death Rate

Mortality is one of the basic components of population change and the related data is essential for demographic studies and public health administration. Death rate is one of the simplest measures of mortality and is defined as the number of deaths per thousand population in a given region and time period.

The death rate of India witnessed a significant decline over the last four decades from 14.9 in 1971 to 6.0 in 2019. The figure at all India level declined from 7.2 to 6 in the last ten years. The corresponding decline in rural areas was 7.7 to 6.5, and for urban areas from 5.8 to 5.

For 2019, the death rate for India varied from 5 in urban areas to 6.5 in rural areas. The death rate for the states/Union Territories ranged from 3.2 in Delhi to 7.3 in Chhattisgarh for 2019.