Health · Sub-pillar 2.1

Mothers and children

Safe pregnancy and childbirth, the survival of infants and young children, immunisation, and child nutrition.

What is mothers and children?

Mothers and children is sub-pillar 2.1 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the first of five sub-pillars under the Health pillar. It asks whether a woman in India can expect to survive pregnancy and childbirth, whether her child survives the first years of life, and whether that child is vaccinated and well nourished.

Why it matters for 2047

Whether a mother survives childbirth and a child survives the first years are the oldest tests of a country's development. They depend on almost everything else working at once: a clinic within reach, a trained attendant at the birth, clean water, enough food, a vaccine that arrived cold, and a family that knows when to seek help.

The children born between now and 2047 are the citizens of the Bharat that 47 BH hopes to see at a hundred years of independence. A child who is stunted in the first two years carries that disadvantage into school, into work and into old age; a child who dies before five never arrives at all.

That is why 47 BH places this sub-pillar first under Health. It is also where India has made some of its clearest progress, which makes it a good place to ask how far there is still to go.

Where India stands

  • 88

    maternal deaths per one lakh live births in 2021-23, the same as in 2020-22 and down from 130 in 2014-16. The Sustainable Development Goal for 2030 is fewer than 70.[1]

  • 24

    infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, down from 39 in 2014. Rural India was at 27 and Kerala, the lowest state, at 8. Roughly one child in 42 still dies before its first birthday.[2]

  • 87.1%

    of children aged 12-23 months were fully immunised in 2023-24, up from 83.8% in 2019-21, according to the sixth National Family Health Survey.[3]

  • 29.3%

    of children under five were stunted in 2023-24, down from 35.5% in 2019-21. The share who were underweight barely moved, from 32.1% to 31.8%.[3]

The long trend is one of steady improvement. Nine in ten births now take place in a hospital or health facility (90.6% in 2023-24, up from 88.6%), two in three pregnant women get at least four antenatal check-ups, and the under-five mortality rate fell to 29 per 1,000 live births in 2023 from 35 in 2019. [3][4] Maternal mortality has fallen by about a third in less than a decade. [1]

The distance still to go is real. Maternal mortality has stalled at 88 for two reporting periods, above the 2030 goal of 70, and the gap between states is wide: Kerala and Andhra Pradesh were at 30 while Odisha was at 153. [1] Infant mortality in Chhattisgarh (36) was more than four times that of Kerala. [2] Nearly one child in three is still stunted and one in three underweight, and the underweight figure has hardly changed in five years. [3]

A note on the numbers: mortality rates come from the Sample Registration System run by the Registrar General of India, a continuous survey of births and deaths; immunisation and nutrition come from the National Family Health Survey, a household survey conducted roughly every five years. Administrative programme data, which often shows higher coverage, is not used here.

On the 47 BH report card

Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:

  • Maternal mortality ratio (Sample Registration System special bulletin).
  • Infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate (Sample Registration System).
  • Share of children aged 12-23 months fully immunised (National Family Health Survey).
  • Share of children under five who are stunted and who are underweight (National Family Health Survey).

Two lenses on mothers and children

City and village

47 BH asks whether a woman in a remote village or a tribal district is as likely to survive childbirth as a woman in a city, and whether a child in a city slum is as likely to be vaccinated and well fed as a child in a planned colony. Infant mortality in rural India (27) remains well above urban India, and the state gaps above show that where a child is born still matters a great deal. [2]

Learn, avoid, protect

Learn
What can India learn from countries and from its own states that brought maternal and infant deaths down fastest, such as skilled birth attendants in every village, referral transport that actually arrives, and tracking every pregnancy from the first trimester?
Avoid
Which mistakes should it avoid, such as counting institutional births or vaccine doses delivered as if they were outcomes, or letting the gains in survival hide the lack of progress on nutrition?
Protect
What of its own should it protect, such as the ASHA and anganwadi workers who reach almost every hamlet, the tradition of family support around a new mother, and breastfeeding, which half of all newborns now begin within the first hour?

What this sub-pillar does not cover

Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:

Questions about mothers and children

What is India's maternal mortality ratio?

India's maternal mortality ratio was 88 deaths per one lakh live births in 2021-23, according to the Sample Registration System special bulletin released in September 2025. It was 130 in 2014-16. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goal is below 70. [1]

What is India's infant mortality rate?

The infant mortality rate was 24 per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to the Sample Registration System bulletin for 2024, down from 39 in 2014. It was 27 in rural areas; Kerala had the lowest rate at 8 and Chhattisgarh the highest at 36. [2]

How many children in India are fully immunised?

87.1% of children aged 12-23 months were fully immunised in 2023-24, according to the National Family Health Survey, up from 83.8% in 2019-21. [3]

Is child malnutrition in India falling?

Stunting is falling: 29.3% of children under five were stunted in 2023-24, down from 35.5% in 2019-21. The share of children who are underweight has hardly changed, from 32.1% to 31.8%. [3]

Why does 47 BH use survey data rather than programme data?

Because household surveys and the Sample Registration System measure what actually happened to mothers and children, while programme data counts services delivered. Both are useful, but outcomes are what the report card tracks.

Sources

  1. Office of the Registrar General of India, "Sample Registration System: Special Bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2021-23", published 3 September 2025. All-India MMR 88 per lakh live births; state figures as reported from the bulletin. https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/46177
  2. Office of the Registrar General of India, "Sample Registration System Bulletin 2024", Volume 59-I, released May 2026. IMR 24 per 1,000 live births; rural 27; Kerala 8; Chhattisgarh 36. https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/47150
  3. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, "Union Health Ministry Releases National Family Health Survey - 6", Press Information Bureau, 29 May 2026. NFHS-6 was conducted in 2023-24; NFHS-5 in 2019-21. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2266600&reg=3&lang=1
  4. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, "Initiatives and Achievements 2025", year-end review, Press Information Bureau, January 2026, citing Sample Registration System 2023 for under-five (29) and neonatal (19) mortality. https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2026/jan/doc202611749801.pdf

47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.

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