Trends and patterns of Infant Mortality Rates in India

This paper examines the trends and magnitude of Infant Mortality Rates (IMR) in India. The result shows that though the trend declined, it has not decreased to the level as expected. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for India was reduce IMR to 28 by 2015. As per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) report (published in May, 2019) IMR reached 33 in India, ie near to the MDG for the year 2017. The same estimate shows that in rural area it is 37 and in urban area 23. In India in urban area IMR has reached the millennium development goal but still rural areas are lagging behind. Among the states 6 union territories and 18 states have achieved MDG by 2017. Five states have IMR above 40 in 2017