Kerala’s infant mortality rate is down to 5 per 1,000 live births, according to the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report-2023.
The report, released earlier this week, says that the national average is 25 per 1000 live births.
Citing the report, Kerala health minister Veena George said that the state’s infant mortality rate is lower than that of the US, which has a rate of 5.6 infant deaths per 1000 live births in 2022.
She said Kerala’s infant mortality rate is the lowest in the country.
“There is a wide gap in the infant mortality rate between the rural and urban areas in the country. The rate in the rural areas is 28, while that in urban areas is 19. But in Kerala, there is no urban-rural difference in the infant mortality rate. This shows that people in Kerala can access health care services without any urban-rural divide,” she said.
Over the years, Kerala’s infant mortality rate has gone down due to the sustained efforts in the health sector.
According to the state economic and statistics department, Kerala’s infant mortality rate was 7.42 in 2010. The figure had gone up to 8.2 in 2012, since then it has been brought down over the years.
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The state vital statistics of 2023 shows that most of the child births in both the rural and urban areas are institutional deliveries. As many as 96.16 per cent of deliveries out of total deliveries in rural sector and 99.88 per cent of deliveries out of total deliveries in urban sector are reported as institutional births during 2023.
Despite having enough medical facilities across the state, a small percentage of live births (1.37) is still attended by traditional birth attendants/relatives in rural areas and 0.01% in urban areas.
