India reduces infant mortality, but still hasn’t met 2012 target

Now, the bad news: The target for IMR reduction was 67 per cent; it has fallen 10 short of the target 27 that India agreed to under the 2015 millennium development goals (MDGs), set in consultation with the United Nations. India has also not achieved the IMR target of 30 that the government itself set for 2012.

To get an idea of India’s global standing, compare its 2015 IMR average of 37 with IMRs of 35 for 154 low- and middle-income nations; five for 26 north American nations and three for 39 nations in the Euro area.

There were wide variations in IMR - a bellwether of national health - across India, according to the latest report from the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin, with smaller, more literate states reporting IMRs close to or better than richer countries and larger, poorer states reporting more deaths than poorer countries, indicating the uneven nature of healthcare. 

Of 36 Indian states and Union territories (UTs), the lowest IMRs were reported from Goa and Manipur with nine infant deaths per 1,000 live births - that is the same as China, Bulgaria and Costa Rica and one better than the consolidated figure for Europe and Central Asia, according to 2015 World Bank data. 

In contrast, Madhya Pradesh reported India’s highest IMR with 50 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, or worse than Ethiopia and Ghana and marginally better than disaster-wracked Haiti (52) and unstable Zimbabwe (47), but better than its 2014 rate of 52. 

In terms of MDG progress, from the larger states, only Tamil Nadu has met its state MDG target with a reduction of 67 per cent in IMR to reach 19 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. Sikkim, Manipur and Daman and Diu have all achieved a two-third reduction from their 1991 estimates.

While Kerala doesn’t feature on the list – its IMR for 2015 is 12, and well within India’s national MDG target – that is because its IMR for 1990 was as low as 17 to begin with.