Recently, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the 4th issue of the Children in India 2025 Report.
- The report provides details on children’s education, health, nutrition, protection, etc. to guide evidence-based policies to improve children’s rights and well-being.
Key Highlights of the Report
- Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): Decreased from 44 (2011) to 25 (2023).
- IMR is the number of deaths of infants (children below 1 year of age) per 1,000 live births in a given year.
- Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR): Declined from 30 (2022) to 29 (2023).
- U5MR is the probability of a child dying before reaching the age of five, expressed as the number of deaths per 1,000 live births in a given year.
- Birth Rate: Declined to 18.4 per 1,000 population in 2023 ; Rural: 20.3, Urban: 14.9
- Dropout Rate (2022-23 to 2024-25):
- Preparatory stage: Dropped from 8.7% to 2.3%.
- Middle level: Declined from 8.1% to 3.5%.
- Secondary level: Reduced from 13.8% to 8.2%.
- Child Marriage (Women aged 20-24 married before 18): Reduced from 26.8% (2015-16) to 23.3% (2019-21).
- Adoption Statistics: Total adoptions increased from 3,927 (2017-18) to 4,515 (2024-25).
- In-country adoptions: 4,155; Inter-country adoptions: 360–653 annually.
- Gender Parity Index (GPI): Achieved parity across all education stages in 2024-25.
