Data Related to Birth Rate and Death Rate | 11 May 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Registrar General of India released data related to birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rate in its Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin for 2018.

  • The rates are calculated per one thousand of the population.

Key Points

  • Birth rate:
    • India’s birth rate has declined drastically over the last four decades from 36.9 in 1971 to 20.0 in 2018.
    • The rural-urban differential has also narrowed. However, the birth rate has continued to be higher in rural areas compared to urban areas.
    • Bihar (26.2) continues to remain at the top of list in birth rate while Andaman and Nicobar (11.2) is at the bottom.
    • Birth rate is a crude measure of fertility of a population and a crucial determinant of population growth.
  • Death rate:
    • The death rate of India has witnessed a significant decline over the last four decades from 14.9 in 1971 to 6.2 in 2018.
    • In the last decade, death rate at an all-India level has declined from 7.3 to 6.2.
    • The decline has been steeper in rural areas.
    • Chhattisgarh has the highest death rate at 8 and Delhi, an almost entirely urban state, has a lowest death rate of 3.3.
    • Mortality is one of the basic components of population change. The data related to it is essential for demographic studies and public health administration.
  • Infant mortality rate:
    • IMR has decreased to 32 about one-fourth as compared to 1971 (129).
    • The IMR at an all-India level has declined from 50 to 32 in the last decade.
    • Madhya Pradesh has the highest IMR of 48 and Nagaland has the lowest IMR of 4.
    • Infant mortality is the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births.

Sample Registration System

  • The SRS is a demographic survey for providing reliable annual estimates of infant mortality rate, birth rate, death rate and other fertility and mortality indicators at the national and sub-national levels.
  • It was initiated on a pilot basis by the Registrar General of India in a few states in 1964-65, it became fully operational during 1969-70.
  • The field investigation consists of continuous enumeration of births and deaths in selected sample units by resident part time enumerators, generally anganwadi workers & teachers, and an independent survey every six months by SRS supervisors. The data obtained by these two independent functionaries are matched.

Registrar General of India

  • Registrar General of India was founded in 1961 by the Government of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
  • It arranges, conducts and analyses the results of the demographic surveys of India including Census of India and Linguistic Survey of India.
  • The position of Registrar is usually held by a civil servant holding the rank of Joint Secretary.

Source: IE