India’s male and female IMR equalise in 2020

The gap has been reducing since the year 2011, when all states in India had a higher IMR for females except for Uttarakhand where the numbers were equal

India has always been infamous for being the only country in the world with a higher number of deaths of girls below the age of one, when compared to that of boys.

However, what could only be termed as a win for the country, India’s infant mortality rate (IMR) of girls and boys equalised in 2020, a report published by the Times of India stated.

The World Health Organization explains Infant mortality rate (IMR) as the “probability of a child born in a specific year or period dying before reaching the age of one, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of that period.”

The gap of male and female IMR has been reducing since 2011, when all states in India had a higher IMR for females, except for Uttarakhand where the numbers were equal.

According to the Sample Registration System Statistical Report 2020, the IMR is equal for both boys and girls in five states and the national capital territory, while in eight states the mortality rate for females was lower than that of boy babies.

With the male IMR of 35 as opposed to an IMR of 41 for the females, Chhattisgarh turned out to be the state with the highest gap in its male and female infant mortality rate, making it one of the few states to see an increase in in the gap between male and female IMR in 2020.

Bihar, Assam and Karnataka were the other states that witnessed an increase in the IMR gap between males and females.

In 2011, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were among the states where the mortality rate of females was higher than that of males, a trend that reversed in 2020.

Even with these promising numbers, India was the only country in 2020 that had an IMR above 20 to have an almost equal male and female IMR, according to data published by the United Nations