Reducing Infant Mortality Rate and Gender Gap- SRS Bulletin Points to Significant Decline in India

India registered significant decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) as released by SRS bulletin- IMR declined by three points (8% decline) , from 37 per 1000 live births in 2015 to 34 per 1000 live births in 2016, compared to two points decline last year.

Infant Mortality Rate and Estimated Infant Deaths
  • India recorded a major drop in birth cohort- coming down to below 25 million.
  • 90000 fewer infant deaths in 2016 as compared to 2015.
  • Total estimated infant deaths came down from 930000 (9.3 Lakhs) in 2015 to 840000 (8.4 lakhs) in 2016

Gender Gap in IMR Came Down

  • According to the SRS Bulletin, gender gap for child survival is reducing steadily.
  • Gender difference between female and male IMR now reduced to < 10% , giving a major boost to the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme.
  • Among the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states and Assam, all States except Uttarakhand have reported decline in IMR in comparison to 2015.
  • Decline reported as 4 points in Bihar, 3 points in Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand and two points decline in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

What Are Empowered Action Group (EAG) States?

  • Eight socioeconomically backward states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh are referred as the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states.
  • They lag behind in the demographic transition and have the highest infant mortality rates in the country.
  • Special government interventions are designed to reduce the IMR in these states.

State-Wise IMR

  • The highest IMR in 2016 was reported in Madhya Pradesh (47) followed by Assam and Odisha (44) , Uttar Pradesh (43) and Rajasthan (41) .
  • The lowest IMR was reported by Goa (8) followed by Kerala and Puducherry (10) . Rural IMR (38) was 15 points higher than the urban IMR (23) .
  • In comparison to 2015, the rural-urban difference narrowed by one point (16 to 15) .
  • The rural IMR declined by 3 points (41 to 38) .

Examrace Team at Aug 21, 2021