Nandita Saikia

India has a long history of collecting data on population and health, but it is neither integrated nor systematic, especially in small geographical areas. The National Population Register should be completed, completeness of the coverage of the Civil Registration System should be ensured, and their linkage should be established with census and other household surveys in India to document health disparities by class, caste, and region.

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Has Child Mortality in India Really Increased in the Last Two Decades?

Vol. 45, Issue No. 51, 18 Dec, 2010

Abhishek Singh, Faujdar Ram, Nandita Saikia

The trend in mortality from the Sample Registration System data shows a slowdown in improvements, particularly since the mid-1990s. According to official life tables constructed by the Registrar General, there is a stagnating trend in infant mortality and an increasing trend in female child mortality for India. The ratio of child mortality rates to infant mortality rates obtained from the official life tables for the recent period does not follow any of the model life table patterns, which raises questions about the reliability of these rates. Using age-specific death rates from the srs, new life tables constructed for the most recent period show lower levels of child mortality rates compared to those provided by the srs.