Lok Sabha Question No. 3894 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-25
Subject: Infant Mortality Rate
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Ganesh Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED PARLIAMENT QUESTION 3894 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 th  MARCH 2022

## INFANT MORTALITY RATE

3894:  SHRI GANESH SINGH:

Will the MINISTER of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the infant mortality rate in the country is 34 per thousand as per NITI Aayog;
- (b) if so, whether this figure is 39 per thousand for children below five years and most of the children die due to diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia;
- (c) whether more than 10 lakh children die in the country each year due to malnutrition and 4 out of 10 children are malnourished and underweight particularly in Bihar, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) to (d):

As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) report of Registrar General of India (RGI), the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is 30 per 1,000 live births in 2019 at National Level.

As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) Bulletin of Registrar General of India (RGI), the Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) is 35 per 1,000 live births in 2019 at National Level.

As per SRS 2010-13 report of Registrar General of India, major causes of child mortality in India are - prematurity & low birth weight (29.8%), pneumonia (17.1%), diarrheal diseases (8.6%),  other  non-communicable  diseases  (8.3%),  birth  asphyxia  &  birth  trauma  (8.2%), injuries  (4.6%),  congenital  anomalies  (4.4%),  ill-defined  or  cause  unknown  (4.4%),  acute bacterial sepsis and severe infections (3.6%), fever of Unknown origin (2.5%), and all other remaining causes (8.4%).

According to NFHS-5 (2019-21), the percentages of malnourished children under five years of age (classified as stunted, wasted and underweight) in the State of Bihar, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh is placed as below:

| S. No.                                                | States                                                | Children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for- age)* (%)   | Children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for- height)* (%)   | Children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age)* (%)   |
|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1                                                     | Bihar                                                 | 42.9                                                            | 22.9                                                              | 41.0                                                               |
| 2                                                     | Meghalaya                                             | 46.5                                                            | 12.1                                                              | 26.6                                                               |
| 3                                                     | Madhya Pradesh                                        | 35.7                                                            | 19.0                                                              | 33.0                                                               |
| * Below -2 standard deviations, based on WHO standard | * Below -2 standard deviations, based on WHO standard | * Below -2 standard deviations, based on WHO standard           | * Below -2 standard deviations, based on WHO standard             | * Below -2 standard deviations, based on WHO standard              |

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