On child wellbeing index, India only ahead of Pakistan among neighbours

India also improved its rank from 116 of 172 countries in 2018 to 113 of 176 countries this year.

India ranks 113 of 176 countries on an index that evaluates countries on the wellbeing of children. The End of Childhood Index is part of the Global Childhood Report released on May 28, 2019, by Save the Children, a nonprofit that works for child rights.

The index evaluates countries on eight indicators to determine the wellbeing of children and teenagers (0-19 years): mortality among children under five years of age, malnutrition that stunts growth, lack of education, child labour, early marriage, adolescent births, displacement by conflict and child homicide. A final score out of 1,000 is derived, and countries are ranked accordingly.

Between 2000 and 2019, India’s score rose from 632 to 769. India also improved its rank from 116 of 172 countries in 2018 to, as we said, 113 of 176 countries this year.

In the year 2000, an estimated 970 million children around the world were deprived of their childhood because of these causes. By 2019, that number fell 29% to 690 million.

An increase in public investments, and intervention through programmes targeted at marginalised children to ensure universal healthcare and education are needed to help improve the wellbeing of children, the report suggests.

A minimum financial security for all children through child-sensitive social protection needs to be on governments’ agenda, the report says, adding that adopting a national action plan to reduce and eliminate child poverty, together with dedicated budgets and monitoring systems that track improvements in poverty-related deprivations, will help achieve better childhood outcomes.

Infectious diseases cause most deaths of Indian children under five

India has reduced its child mortality rate by 55% in the last two decades, from 88 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 39 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017, according to data from this 2018 report. Yet, it lags the Millennium Development Goal of 25 or fewer deaths per 1,000 live births.

These deaths are mostly attributed to preventable infectious diseases, followed by injuries, meningitis, measles and malaria.

Among neighbouring countries, India’s performance on under-five mortality was better only than that of Pakistan (74.9). Sri Lanka (8.8), China (9.3), Bhutan (30.8), Nepal (33.7) and Bangladesh (32.4) have all outperformed India.

Business Standard