India’s Infant Mortality Rate Drops By 37% In Last 10 Years; Birth, Death Rates See Sharp Decline

India’s Population Rate: In a major development in healthcare, family planning, and social welfare, India’s birth and death rates have fallen nearly half their levels from what they were at least 50 years ago, according to the latest government data of 2023. 

The death rate is usually the number of people who die in a year for every 1,000 people in the population and gives an idea of overall mortality, life expectancy, and health conditions. Birth rate, on the other hand, is usually the number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people in the population.  

Besides these two measures, the Infant Mortality Rates (IMR), which show the number of babies who die before reaching the 1-year age for every 1000 babies born, have also improved drastically. 

Decline In Birth Rates

The birth rates (live births per thousand of a population) have declined from 21.4 in 2013 to 18.4 in 2023. Overall, the data from the last 5 decades show a more drastic change in the birth rate, from 36.9 in 1971 to 18.4 in 2023. 

The data also shows that rural areas, where birth rates have been traditionally higher owing to socio-economic factors, have declined from 22.9 to 20.3 during the same period. Meanwhile, in the urban areas, from 17.3 to 14.9. 

But despite improvements in the overall numbers, state-wise birth rates remain a problem, with Bihar reporting the highest birth rate at 25.8 in 2023, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded the lowest birth rate at 10.1. 

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Decline In Mortality Rates

Death rates (deaths per thousand population) have also plummeted from 7.0 in 2013 to 6.4 in 2023. Rural areas, which have traditionally recorded higher death have seen a slight progress, owing to improvements in the medical facilities. But the gap between the states has been a major problem that the government looks to solve. 

Chhattisgarh recorded the highest death rate at 8.3, while Chandigarh registered the lowest at 4.0.

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Changes In IMR

The IMR has dropped from 40 deaths in 2013 to 25 in 2023, an improvement of nearly 37.5 per cent. Rural IMR has fallen from 44 to 28 (per thousand) while urban IMR has fallen from 27 to 18 (per thousand) in the same period. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh have all reported high IMR rates at 37 per cent, while Manipur had the lowest rate at just 3 per cent in 2023.

Improvements in health care also mean that the Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR), which were higher than the global ratio, have also improved. India’s MMR declined by 83 per cent as compared to a decline of 42 per cent around the world. In quantitative terms, the MMR has fallen from 556 (per 1 lakh births) to 97 currently.