J&K rivals India’s best states in reduction of infant mortality
Srinagar, May 14: Amidst the ongoing flurry of bad news, the Sample Registration System (SRS) Report 2021, released on May 7, 2025 has highlighted the markers of good news for J&K. With the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 17 per 1,000 live births and a Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) of 12 per 1,000 live births, according to this report, J&K is among India’s top-performing states, outshining many with stronger economies or larger health budgets.
As per the Registrar General of India compiled data, J&K’s IMR drop from approximately 20–25 in 2020 to 17 in 2021. States like Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Manipur and Sikkim have IMR much lower than that of J&K. However, J&K has achieved commendable progress over the past decade in bringing down IMR. In 2010, the IMR of J&K was 43 as per the same survey, which dropped significantly over the next five years and reached 26 in 2015. From there on, J&K has been recording a drop of 2 to 3 per year, reaching 17 in 2021. The All-India IMR is 27 per 1000 live births.
Commendably, J&K has achieved the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals target of bringing Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) below 25. The U5MR of J&K is 16. At par with that of Tamil Nadu and Delhi, higher still than that of Kerala, and lower than that of Karnataka, Punjab, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
On the same lines, J&K is among the only seven states and UTs of India that have achieved the 2030 SDG goal of curtailing Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) to under 12. J&K’s NMR is 12 as per SRS 2021, at par with Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra and higher than Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
NMR, IMR and U5MR are measures of the number of infants and children dying within the first month, first year and first five years of birth in a given year. It is the most reliable indicator of a region’s healthcare delivery, maternal health, maternal and child nutrition and maternity services, as well as the socio-economic conditions. A high IMR points towards poor healthcare delivery, poor nutrition, low female literacy, high poverty and poor awareness or misinformation about childbirth and childcare.
The dip in IMR, NMR and U-5 mortality is a fruit borne from the decades of investments in improvement of healthcare delivery across J&K. Under the National Health Mission (NHM), the Sick Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) were started in many hospitals to provide care for premature and low-birth-weight infants, a major cause of neonatal deaths. Similarly, the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) has increased institutional deliveries to 92 per cent in J&K, as per the last National family Health Survey (NFHS-5), making deliveries safer across urban and rural areas. J&K’s has a female literacy rate of 68 percent and Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.5, these support for better maternal health practices. The immunization coverage for infants as per NFHS-5 is 95 percent in J&K, protecting children against diseases like pneumonia.
