According to ‘Levels & Trends in Child Mortality’ Report 2020, India’s child mortality rate has declined from 3.4 million in 1990 to 824,000 in 2019. The report was prepared by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).
The Report shows that the number of global under-five deaths dropped to its lowest point on record in 2019, down to 5.2 million from 12.5 million in 1990.
The new mortality rates have been released by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), Population Division of the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Bank Group.
Under-five Mortality Rate:
i.According to the report, 49 percent of under-five deaths in 2019 occurred in five countries namely: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. India and Nigeria alone accounted for a third of all under-five deaths in 2019.
ii.The under-five mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births) in India has declined to 34 in 2019 from 126 in 1990.
iii.Sex-specific under-five mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births) in India in 1990 stood at 122 males and 131 females and this declined to 34 males and 35 females in 2019.
iv.India registered a 4.5 per cent annual rate of reduction in under-five mortality between 1990-2019.
Infant Mortality Rate:
The infant mortality rate (deaths per 1, 000 live births) in India showed decline from 89 in 1990 to 28 in 2019. India registered 6,79,000 infant deaths in 2019, showing a significant decline from 2.4 million infant deaths in 1990.
Neonatal Mortality Rate:
India also registered a decrease in neonatal mortality rate between 1990 and 2019 from 57 to 22 – 1.5 million neonatal deaths in 1990 to 5,22,000 deaths in 2019.
Summary:
i.Over the past 30 years, health services to prevent or treat causes of child death such as preterm, low birth weight, complications during birth, neonatal sepsis, pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and vaccination played a major role in saving lives.
iii.Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals target on under-five mortality will save the lives of almost 11 million children.
Mortality Rate:
Mortality Rate is the measure of frequency of occurrence of death in a defined population during a specific interval.
i.Infant Mortality Rate – Number of deaths among children lesser than 1 year of age during a specific time interval.
ii.Neonatal Mortality Rate – Number of deaths among children lesser than 28 days of age during a given time interval.
iii.Under-Five Mortality Rate – Number of deaths among children lesser than age of five during a given time interval.
Recent Related News:
i.In accordance with the United Nations (UN) annual report “The state of food security and nutrition in the World-Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets”, nearly 690 million people of the world’s population, went hungry in 2019.
ii.According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) titled “Lost at Home: The risks and challenges for internally displaced children and the urgent actions needed to protect them” 5,037,000 people internally displaced in India in 2019.
About United Nations (UN):
Secretary General – António Guterres
Headquarters – New York (United States of America)
