Source: Sample Registration System (SRS) Bulletins, Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI)
Dimapur, May 27 (MExN): For the second time in one decade, Nagaland witnessed an increase in the death rate in 2020, as per the latest Sample Registration System Bulletin.
The steady decline of the death rate, defined as the number of deaths per thousand population in a given region and time, across India over the years was halted during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, indicated the bulletin released by the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) on May 25.
In Nagaland, death rate increased from 3.5 in 2019 to 3.7 in 2020, with rural area reporting more deaths at 3.9 than the urban areas at 3.5. During the same period, the national average remained unmoved at 6.0.
A fall in death rate, among others, implies advancement in living standard of the people, improvement in health, and other related parameters, and is hence considered a positive development.
This is the second time in one decade till 2020, when Nagaland had witnessed an increase in the death rate. In 2016, there was a sharp increase to 4.5 from 3 in 2015, after declining steadily before.
Again, after 2016, the declining trend started till it increased to 3.7 in 2021. It remains to be seen whether next Bulletin (for 2021) would show an increase in the death rate, as Nagaland had higher COVID-19 related fatalities in 2021.
Meanwhile, the bulletin informed that death rate of India has witnessed a significant decline over the last five decades from 14.9 in 1971 to 6.0 in 2020. The corresponding decline in rural areas from 2011-2020 was 7.6 to 6.4 (about 16% decline), and for urban areas, it was 5.7 to 5.1 (about 11% decline), it said.
However, there was no reversal of gradual decline in birth rate, the number of live births per thousand population in a given region and year, both in Nagaland and at national level.
In 2020, birth rate in India stood at 19.5 while the rate for Nagaland was 12.5. From 2011 to 2020, both the national and state’s rates depicted a declining trend.
The SRS, a large-scale demographic survey conducted every year by the RGI, “provides reliable annual estimates of Infant mortality rate, birth rate, death rate and other fertility & mortality indicators at the national and sub-national levels.”
