Sex ratio fell, maternal mortality rate rose in Delhi in 2023: report

New Delhi: The sex ratio of Delhi fell sharply to 922 in 2023 from 929 a year ago, and the birth rate of the city stood at 14.66 and death rate at 6.16, according to a Delhi government report.

The 'Annual Report on Registration of Births and Deaths in Delhi-2023' released recently by the government also showed that the infant mortality rate slightly decreased while the the maternal morality rate registered a rise.

The infant mortality rate per thousand live births was 23.61 during 2023 as against 23.82 during 2022, while the maternal mortality rate per thousand live births was 0.45 in 2023 while it was 0.49 in 2022, the report showed.

The birth rate was worked out to 14.66 per thousand of population during 2023 as against 14.24 for the year 2022. The death rate per thousand of population was 6.16 during 2023 as against 6.07 in 2022.

The sex ratio which was 929 in 2022 went down to 922 in 2023, the report revealed.

The annual report for 2023 was released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics and Office of Chief Registrar (Births & Deaths) Delhi.

The data available from the civil registration system indicates that sex ratio at birth was 822 females per 1,000 males in the year 2005 and it is improving every year and was 848 in the year 2007.

However, in 2008, the sex ratio was reversed with 1,004 females per 1,000 males which was unprecedented and could be due to implementation of the 'Ladli' scheme from January 2008, said the report.

Delhi started the monthly monitoring of sex ratio of institutional births from 2004. The data is collected on a monthly basis from 100 major hospitals which account for 71.70 per cent of total registered births in the year 2023 in Delhi. This helps to review the sex ratio at the highest level in the shortest possible time without waiting for the yearly indicators. The sex ratio of institutional births on the basis of these 100 hospitals comes out to 924 in the year 2023, the report pointed out.

It said that the the total number of births registered during 2023 was 3,15,087 as against 3,00,350 during 2022, with an average number of births per day in Delhi worked out to 863 in 2023 as against 823 in 2022.

Of the total births registered, 1,63,900 (52.02 per cent) were males, 1,51,107 (47.96 per cent) females and 80 (0.02 percent) others. A total of 3,01,168 (95.58 percent) births were institutional and 13,919 (4.42 percent) domiciliary in nature.

The percentage of births at government hospitals was 64.56. Of the total births, 13.79 percent births were rural and 86.21 per cent were urban according to the place of residence of mother.

In 99.68 percent of cases, doctor, nurse, trained mid-wife were present and in 0.30 per cent of cases attendance of un-trained mid-wife or traditional birth attendant was available.

In negligible 0.01 per cent cases, the delivery occurred with the help of relatives or others, said the report.

In maximum cases (42.95 per cent), the age of mother was 25-29 years, followed by 24.71 per cent in 30-34 years group and in 23.08 per cent was 20-24 years group.

The age of mother was 19 years or below in 0.88 cases of birth, the report said.

The report established a "close relationship" between the level of educational attainment of the mother and order of births.

It is observed that out of the total births of fourth and higher birth order, in 43.84 per cent cases, the level of education of mother was 'matric but below graduate' and in 18.83 percent cases, the mothers were illiterate.

"Obviously, in case of fourth and higher order of birth, proportion of births was 7.95 per cent in the category of mother having 'graduation or above qualification'," it said.

The report said that out of the total count, 81,500 (61.56 percent) were males and 50,868 (38.42 percent) were females and 23 (0.02 percent) others.

The average number of deaths per day in Delhi worked out to 363 in 2023 as against 351 during 2022. Out of the total 1,32,391 deaths registered in 2023, infant deaths were 7,439, it added.

The age profile of the deceased showed that maximum (39.28 per cent) deaths occurred in the 65 year and above age group followed by 17.40 per cent in 55-64 age group, 14.12 per cent in 45-54 age group and remaining 29.20 per cent deaths were noted in people aged below 45.

The cause of deaths during 2023, reflect that maximum 17.30 per cent deaths occurred due to septicemia, 10.62 per cent due to shock not elsewhere classified, 4.73 per cent due to diseases of liver, 4.65 per cent due to diseases of pulmonary circulation and other forms of heart diseases, 4.63 per cent due to hypertension, 4.40 per cent due to tuberculosis and 0.11 per cent due to Covid-19 virus identified and not identified, added the report.