The infant mortality rate (IMR) of girls in urban areas is reducing at a rapid pace, as per the recently released Sample Registration System (SRS) by the Centre. The report shows that in urban areas the IMR of girls has reduced by four points from 24 deaths per 1000 live births in 2019 to 20 deaths per 1000 live births in 2020.
The number is much less than the IMR of boys in urban areas of the state. In urban areas, the IMR of boys has reduced by three points from 26 deaths per 1000 live births in 2019 to 23 deaths per 1000 live births in 2020.
In rural areas, the decline of IMR in girls was not much in comparison to IMR of boys. The IMR in boys were reduced by six points from 39 to 33 deaths per 1000 live births, but the IMR of girls in rural areas were reduced by just one point from 38 to 37 deaths per 1000 live births in 2020 compared with 2019 SRS figures. Besides, in 2019, IMR of girls including rural and urban areas was below the IMR of boys, but in 2020, the IMR of boys reduced by five points but the IMR of girls was reduced by just two points. In 2020, 31 infant boys died per 1000 live births, while 33 infant girls died per 1000 live births.