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) .