Infant deaths fall, but gap across states remains wide

India reduced Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), or the number of deaths per 1,000 live babies born, from 30 in 2019 to 24 in 2024, an annual average decline of about one point. Chhattisgarh had the highest IMR of 36 followed by both UP and MP with 35. Kerala had the lowest IMR of 8, followed by Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, all recording 11.

This was revealed in the latest Sample Registration System report of 2024 which showed that rural IMR has decreased marginally more (by 36%), than urban IMR (by 35%). "Despite this decline, one in every 42 infants at the national level, one in every 37 infants in rural areas and one in every 59 infants in urban areas still die within one year of life," stated the report.

Sharp reduction in IMR is attributed to the jump in institutional deliveries. The report shows that the per cent of live births where the mother received medical attention in a govt or private hospital jumped from below 83% in 2019 to over 95% in 2024. However, Chhattisgarh is proof that increasing institutional delivery alone will not be enough. Institutional delivery went from over 77% to 97% in Chhattisgarh in 2019-24.

Chhattisgarh had the lowest decline in IMR (from 45 to 37), a percentage change of just 18.3% between 2012-14 and 2022-24. The highest improvement was a decline of 62.7% in J&K (from 37 to 14) in the same period. India decreased its IMR by 37.4% in this period, a higher percentage change than between 2002-04 and 2012-14, when it fell by 33.2% from 60.3 to 40.3.

Overall, rural IMR has fallen more than urban with Assam showing the highest difference in IMR between rural (31) and urban areas (14). Many states also showed significant difference in the IMR between male and female infants. Among the bigger states, Bihar showed the highest gender gap in IMR. In Bihar, the IMR was 21 for males and 25 for females. In contrast, in J&K, IMR was higher for males (16) than for female infants (12).

While IMR is about infant deaths before reaching the age of one, the bulk of these deaths happen within the first 28 days of birth. The number of newborn deaths during the first 28 days of life per 1,000 live births is called neo-natal mortality rate (NMR) and that constituted almost 73% of infant deaths, an increase from 67.6% in 2014.

India's overall NMR was 18 deaths per 1,000 live births. Among the bigger states/UTs, Kerala had the lowest neo-natal mortality rate of 6 deaths per 1,000 live births, while MP and Chhattisgarh had the highest rate of 26 deaths per 1,000 live births, followed by UP with 25.