India's under 5 mortality drops, UP, Karnataka top table; sex ratio improves

India's under 5 mortality rate has significantly declined by from 35 per 1,000 live births in 2019 to 32 per 1,000 live births in 2020, with the highest decline recorded in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, according to the Sample Registration System Statistical Report 2020.

According to the report released on Thursday by the Registrar General of India, the country has been witnessing a progressive reduction in infant mortality rate, under 5 mortality rate and neo-mortality rate since 2014 towards achieving the sustainable development goals targets by 2030, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.

He thanked all health workers, caregivers and community members for relentlessly working towards reducing child mortality.

"There has been a sustained decline since 2014, as revealed by SRS 2020. India is poised to meet 2030 SDG targets of child mortality under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji with focused interventions, strong Centre-state partnership and dedication of all health workers," the minister noted.

The under 5 mortality rate for the country has shown a significant decline of three points (annual decline rate--8.6 per cent) from 2019 (32 per 1,000 live births in 2020 against 35 per 1000 live births in 2019). It varies from 36 in rural areas to 21 in urban areas.

U5MR for females is higher (33) than males (31).

There has been a decline of four points in male U5MR and three points in female U5MR during the corresponding period.

Besides, the infant mortality rate has also registered a 2-point decline to 28 per 1,000 live births in 2020 from 30 per 1,000 live births in 2019 (annual decline rate--6.7 per cent).

The maximum IMR has been observed in Madhya Pradesh (43) and the minimum in Kerala (6), the report stated.

The rural-urban difference has narrowed to 12 points (urban-19, rural-31) and no gender differential has been observed in 2020 (male-28, female-28).

The IMR for the country has come down to 28 in 2020 from 37 in 2015, a decline of nine points over the last five years and an annual average decline of about 1.8 points, according to the report.

"Despite this decline, one in every 35 infants at the national level, one in every 32 infants in rural areas and one in every 52 infants in urban areas still die within one year of life," it said.

The report also mentioned that the sex ratio at birth for the country has gone up by three points to 907 in 2018-20 from 904 in 2017-19. Kerala has reported the highest Sex Ratio at Birth (974) while Uttarakhand the lowest (844).

The Neonatal Mortality Rate has also declined by two points from 22 per 1,000 live births in 2019 to 20 per 1,000 live births in 2020 (annual decline rate-9.1 per cent). It ranges from 12 in urban areas to 23 in rural areas.

According to the report, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for the country has also come down to 2.0 in 2020 from 2.1 in 2019. During 2020, Bihar reported the highest TFR (3.0), while Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal reported the lowest TFR (1.4).

At present, the TFR of a rural woman is 2.2 at the national level which is higher than that of an urban woman (1.6).

Six states/UTs, namely, Kerala (4), Delhi (9), Tamil Nadu (9), Maharashtra (11), Jammu and Kashmir (12) and Punjab (12), have already attained the SDG target of Neonatal Mortality Rate (less than or equal to 12 by 2030).

Eleven states and Union territories (UTs) -- Kerala (8), Tamil Nadu (13), Delhi (14), Maharashtra (18), Jammu and Kashmir (17), Karnataka (21), Punjab (22), West Bengal (22), Telangana (23), Gujarat (24), and Himachal Pradesh (24) -- have already attained SDG target of U5MR (less than or equal to 25 by 2030), the report mentioned.

The crude birth rate at the national level during 2020 stands at 19.5, exhibiting a decline of 0.2 points over 2019. Among the bigger states/UTs, the maximum CBR has been reported in Bihar (25.5) and the minimum in Kerala (13.2), the report stated.

There has been a decline of 1.3 points in the CBR for the country from 2015 to 2020. The corresponding decline in rural CBR is 1.0 points and in urban CBR
0.9 points.

The crude death rate for the country is 6.0 in 2020.

The maximum CDR has been reported for Chhattisgarh (7.9) and the minimum for Delhi (3.6). During the last five years, the decline in national CDR has been to the tune of 0.5 points.

The corresponding decline in female CDR is 0.7 points whereas in male CDR, it is 0.3 points.

In case of about 82.6 per cent live births, the mothers have received the medical attention at delivery either at government or private hospitals in 2020 against the 82.8 per cent in 2019.

There has been an increase of 0.3 percentage points in 2020 (48.8) over 2019 (48.5) in case of deaths where the deceased have received medical attention before death, either at government or private hospitals, the report added.