Long-Term Trend in Infant Mortality in India: A Joinpoint Regression Analysis for 1971–2018

Abstract

Infant mortality rate (IMR) in India remains high by international standards. India accounts for the largest number of global infant deaths. This study analyses the trend in IMR in India over almost four decades beginning 1971 through 2018. The analysis is based on annual estimates of IMR available through India’s official sample registration system and follows the joinpoint regression analysis approach. The analysis reveals that the trend in IMR in India changed three times during 1971–2018 and the pace of decrease has been different in different sub-periods with a considerable deceleration in the decrease during 1992–2006. It is only after the launch of National Rural Health Mission in 2005 that the decrease in IMR in India and selected states accelerated to more than 4 per cent per year.