Article Title: MMR shows a declining trend, reveals latest data
09-05-2025
Social Issues Current Affairs Analysis
• The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in India declined to 93 per lakh live births in 2019-21 from 97 in 2018-20, and 103 in 2017-19, show the latest data released by the Office of the Registrar- General and Census Commissioner of India.
• The data show the highest MMR occurs in the 20-29 age group, and the second highest in the 30-34 age group.
• Several States, including Madhya Pradesh (175), Assam (167), Uttar Pradesh (151), Odisha (135), Chhattisgarh (132), West Bengal (109), and Haryana (106), have high MMRs.
• The Registrar-General arrives at estimates on fertility and mortality using the Sample Registration System, one of the largest demographic sample surveys in the country.
• The MMR is a measure of the reproductive health of women in a region.
• MMR is defined as the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 100,000 live births during the same time period as reported.
• The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim at reducing global MMR to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.
• “Maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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