- According to data from Sample Registration System (SRS), India’s sex ratio at birth (SRB) fell to all-time low of 896 in 2015-17 from 898 in 2014-2016. SRB is defined as the number of female babies born for every 1000 male babies.
- During the 2017 SRS survey, Chhattisgarh reported the highest sex ratio at birth (961) while Haryana recorded the lowest (833).
- India’s Total Fertility rate (TFR) has fell to 2.2 in 2017 from 2.3 in 2013. TFR refers to total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her life time if she were subject to the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility in the population.
- TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called Replacement-level fertility. This represents the level at which a population can replace itself from one generation to other without growing or declining. Delhi has the lowest TFR at 1.5.
- The Infant Mortality rate (IMR) at the national level registered a marginal decline of 1 point from 34 in 2016 to 33 in 2017. IMR is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births of children under one year of age.
- The Sample Registration System is the most regular source of vital statistics in India since 1964. The SRS provides information on (a) population composition, (b) fertility, (c) mortality, and (d) medical attention at the time of birth or death
- The 2017 SRS Report has been compiled by the Registrar General & Census Commissioner under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
