The best State to be a mother in

Kerala, Goa and Manipur are the three States that top the list of ‘best Indian States to be a mother in’. In Kerala, 63.6 per cent women receive antenatal care, and 99.3 per cent have access to institutional (hospital) deliveries.

Maternal health has just been examined across Indian states and diagnosed, based on three indicators: infant mortality rates (IMR), antenatal care and institutional deliveries. Delhi has an IMR of 37 (deaths per 1,000 live births); only 29 per cent mothers receive recommended antenatal care. The figures have been compiled from the National Health and Family Survey 3 (NHFS), and the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin.

“Maternal health is very important since it directly impacts the health of a child. Greater access to pre-natal care is needed, including nutritional requirements, and we need to ensure safe childbirth so that delivery complications can be avoided,” Shireen Vakil Miller, head of policy and advocacy at Save the Children, the NGO that has conducted the study, told Namita Kohli of The Hindustan Times.


Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are on top of the ‘most unhealthy’ list. Uttar Pradesh is the worst performer with only 4.1 per cent of mothers receiving antenatal care.