Infant Mortality Rate

Also called: IMR · Topic: Measuring Development: Income, HDI and Sustainability · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 1 "Development"; Class 10, Ch 2 "Sectors of the Indian Economy"; Class 11, Ch 1 "Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence"; Class 11, Ch 4 "Human Capital Formation in India"; Class 11, Ch 8 "Comparative Development Experiences of India and its Neighbours"

Meaning

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the number of babies who die before their first birthday for every 1,000 live births in a year.

Formula: IMR = (infant deaths in the year ÷ live births in the year) × 1,000

IMR changes quickly when a society gets clean water, vaccines, educated mothers and safe births. This makes it one of the best single measures of a society's welfare. It shows real well-being in a way that income alone cannot.

Explanation

How it is calculated

• Numerator: babies who died before age 1 during the year.
• Denominator: live births in the same year. It is not the total population.
• Unit: per 1,000 live births.
• Worked example: a district has 2,00,000 live births and 5,200 infant deaths in a year.
• IMR = 5,200 ÷ 2,00,000 × 1,000 = 26.

• This means about 26 of every 1,000 babies born there did not reach their first birthday.

• Worked example (measuring a fall): India's IMR went from 146 (1951) to 28 (2018-22).

• Fall = (146 − 28) ÷ 146 × 100 ≈ 81%.

What makes IMR rise or fall

IMR is very sensitive to four things:

• Clean water and sanitation.
• Dirty water and open defecation → diarrhoea and gut infections in babies.

• → Babies cannot absorb nutrients from food → more infant deaths.

• Vaccination: it protects babies from diseases that kill them early.

• Mothers' education:
• Educated mothers know more about feeding, hygiene and when to seek care.

• → They use health services earlier → fewer babies die.

• Institutional deliveries (births in hospitals or health centres): trained staff can handle problems at birth, when many infant deaths happen.

Poverty, undernourished mothers and weak health services push IMR up.

Why IMR matters for life expectancy and the HDI

• Life expectancy at birth is the health part of the Human Development Index (HDI), the UNDP index of health, education and income.
• Falling infant deaths add the most to life expectancy.
• A death at age 0 takes a whole lifetime out of the average.
• → When fewer babies die, the average lifespan rises sharply.

• → So India's life expectancy nearly doubled from 37.2 (male) and 36.2 (female) in 1951 to 68.6 (M) and 71.4 (F) in 2018-22.

• Income is not health: from 1951 to 2018-22, real per capita income rose about 12 times (Rs 7,651 → Rs 94,054), while IMR fell about 81%. The two do not move together automatically. Public action on health, water and education makes the difference.

In India

• Who measures it: the Sample Registration System (SRS), the Registrar General's large sample survey of births and deaths. It is India's official source for IMR.
• The long trend (NCERT Class 11, Table 4.1):

Period	IMR (per 1,000 live births)
Colonial period	about 218
1951	146
1981	110
1991	80
2001	63
2018-22	28

• Latest official data: based on SRS, IMR fell from 39 per 1,000 live births (2014) to 27 (2021) [2]. Check the newest SRS bulletin for a later figure.
• Between 1990 and 2023, India cut [2]:
• IMR by 71%
• Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) by 78%

• Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) by 70%

• This puts India on a steady path towards its SDG 2030 targets for child survival [2].

• Neighbours (NCERT keec108, World Development Indicators data): India 25.5, China 4.8, Pakistan 51. India does better than Pakistan but is far behind China.
• Programmes that lower IMR by improving water and sanitation:
• Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin: all villages were declared ODF (open defecation free) on 2 October 2019.
• Jal Jeevan Mission (launched 15 August 2019): rural household tap coverage rose from 16.71% at launch [3] to over 81% by 22 October 2025 [3].

Don't confuse with

• Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR): counts child deaths before age 5, not before age 1. India cut it by 78% between 1990 and 2023 [2].
• Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR): counts deaths in the first 28 days only. NMR is one part of IMR.
• Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR): counts mothers' deaths linked to pregnancy, per 1,00,000 live births, not per 1,000. The latest SRS figure is 93 (2019-21) [2].
• Crude death rate (CDR): all deaths per 1,000 population, not per 1,000 live births. India's CDR fell from 25.1 (1951) to 6.0 (2018-22).

Prelims Hooks

• IMR = deaths of infants under 1 year per 1,000 live births in a year. The denominator is live births, not population.
• India's official IMR source is the Sample Registration System (SRS): 39 (2014) → 27 (2021) [2].
• NCERT trend: about 218 (colonial) → 146 (1951) → 28 (2018-22), a fall of about 81% since 1951.
• 1990–2023 reductions [2]: IMR 71%, U5MR 78%, NMR 70%. Trap: the largest fall is in U5MR, not IMR.
• Unit trap: IMR and CDR are "per 1,000". MMR is "per 1,00,000 live births".
• keec108 comparison: China 4.8 < India 25.5 < Pakistan 51.

Mains Points

• Growth is not enough: real per capita income rose about 12 times from 1951 to 2018-22. But IMR depends on public action: clean water, vaccination, female literacy and institutional deliveries. This is Amartya Sen's capability view, and it is why the HDI measures health directly.
• WASH programmes are child-survival programmes:
• SBM-G and the Jal Jeevan Mission cut diarrhoea and infections.
• → Babies absorb nutrients better → IMR falls.

• Caution: a tap connection is not the same as "safely managed" water, which must also be available when needed and free from contamination. Outcome indicators like IMR show whether coverage is working (GS-II/III).

• The remaining gap: India (25.5) is still far behind China (4.8). Newborn deaths are a large part of IMR, so the next gains depend on care in the first 28 days: skilled birth attendance, newborn care units and maternal nutrition. More vaccines alone will not be enough.

Related concepts

• Maternal mortality rate
• Life expectancy
• Mortality rate
• Undernourishment
• Body Mass Index
• Access to sanitation and drinking water

Read more

• Health and nutrition indicators: reading the numbers