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.

Highlights of the Report:

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 rates are Calculated per one Thousand of the Population.
• The rural-urban differential has also narrowed. However, the birth rate has continued to be higher in Rural Areas compared to Urban Areas.
• Birth rate is a crude measure of fertility of a population and a crucial determinant of Population Growth.
• Bihar (26.2) continues to remain at the top of list in birth rate while Andaman and Nicobar (11.2) is at the Bottom.

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

• Infant mortality is the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births.
• 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.

Sample Registration System (SRS):

• 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.