• India
  • Jul 06

Infant mortality rate dips to 32 in India

Madhya Pradesh has recorded the highest infant mortality rate of 48 for every 1,000 live births, according to the latest data of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.

The data showed the infant mortality rate in India has improved, albeit slightly, from 33 in 2017 to 32 in 2018.

These data were released by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner in its Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin based on information collected for 2018.

What is SRS?

The Sample Registration System (SRS) is a large-scale demographic survey for providing reliable annual estimates of infant mortality rate, birth rate, death rate and other fertility and mortality indicators at the national and subnational levels.

Initiated on a pilot basis by the Office of the Registrar General in a few selected states in 1964-65, it became fully operational during 1969-70 with about 3,700 sample units.

The field investigation consists of continuous enumeration of births and deaths in selected sample units by resident part-time enumerators, generally anganwadi workers and teachers, and an independent survey every six months by SRS supervisors.

The data obtained by these two independent functionaries are matched. The unmatched and partially matched events are re-verified in the field and thereafter an unduplicated count of births and deaths is obtained.

The sample unit in rural areas is a village or a segment of it (if the village population is 2,000 or more). 

In urban areas, the sampling unit is a census enumeration block with a population ranging from 750 to 1,000. The SRS sample is replaced every 10 years based on the latest census frame. The current sample is based on the 2011 Census frame.

At present, SRS is operational in 8,847 sample units (4,961 rural and 3,886 urban) covering about 8.1 million population, spread across all states and Union Territories. 

Infant Mortality Rate

The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), which is widely accepted as a crude indicator of the overall health scenario of a country or a region, is defined as the infant deaths (less than one year) per thousand live births in a given time period and for a given region.

Decline in IMR

The present level of IMR (32 infant deaths per thousand live births, for the year 2018) 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 35 per cent in rural areas and about 32 per cent in urban areas. 

The IMR at national level has declined from 50 to 32 in the last decade.

The corresponding decline in rural areas is 55 to 36, and for urban areas it is from 34 to 23.

Despite the decline in IMR over the last decades, one in every 31 infants die within first year of their life at the national level. One in every 28 infants in rural areas and one in every 43 infants in urban areas still die within one year of life. 

The infant mortality rate is highest in Madhya Pradesh and stood at 48 per thousand live births in 2018 while Nagaland has the lowest with just four  deaths. Among bigger states, Kerala has registered the lowest — just seven deaths for every 1,000 live births.

Birth Rate

Birth Rate is a crude measure of fertility of a population and is a crucial determinant of population growth. It gives the number of live births per thousand population in a given region and year.

The birth rate at national level has declined drastically over the last four decades from 36.9 in 1971 to 20 in 2018. 

The rural-urban differential has also narrowed over these years. However, the birth rate has continued to be higher in rural areas compared to urban areas in the last four decades.

The birth rate in the last decade declined from 22.5 in 2009 to 20 in 2018. 

The corresponding decline in rural areas is 24.1 to 21.6, and for urban areas it is from 18.3 to 16.7. 

In 2018, the birth rate for India varies from 16.7 in urban regions to 21.6 in rural regions. 

Bihar has the highest birth rate at 26.2 and Andaman and Nicobar Islands has a birth rate of 11.2. 

Death Rate

Mortality is one of the basic components of population change and 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 has witnessed a significant decline over the last four decades from 14.9 in 1971 to 6.2 in 2018. The decline has been steeper in rural areas as compared to urban areas. 

The death rate at national level has declined from 7.3 to 6.2 in the last decade. The corresponding decline in rural areas is 7.8 to 6.7, and for urban areas it is from 5.8 to 5.1. 

The rate of decline in these years has been higher in rural areas (around 14.5 per cent) than in the urban areas (12.7 per cent).

Chhattisgarh has the highest death rate at 8 and Delhi has the lowest at 3.3.

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