Indian Express
15 September 2010
New Delhi, India

City Anchor Govt Report Shows Birth Rate Went UP Slightly In 2009 And More Women Opted For Institutional Deliveries
THE family planning motto of "Hum do, hamare do” is finally turning into reality in Delhi.

The Delhi government’s latest report on ‘registration of birth and death events’ has revealed that the birth of a fourth child in families in the Capital has drastically come down in the last two decades.

In 1991, out of the total births, 19.94 per cent babies were the couples’ fourth, a trend which had declined to only 2.79 per cent of the 3.54 lakh newborn babies in 2009.

The report, released by Finance Minister A K Walia, said that out of the total births about 53.39 per cent were of the couples' first child, 32.81 per cent of the second child and 11.01 per cent of the third child.

The main reason for this change is literacy level of the mothers, as about 86 per cent of total births of fourth children and or more were by mothers who were either illiterate or with educational qualifications below Class X.

The birth rate, meanwhile, has gone up from 19.51 for every thousand people in 2008 to 20.21 in 2009. About 85 per cent of the births were given by the mothers in the age group of 20-29 years. There has also been a marginal increase in percentage of institutional deliveries, from 73.45 per cent in 2008 to 75.64 per cent in 2009.

Out of the total 3.54 lakh births in Delhi during 2009, about 45 per cent babies were born in government hospitals, while 31 per cent babies were born in private hospitals. "Our target should be to reach 85 to 90 per cent institutional deliveries in the next 2-3 years," Walia said.

There sex ratio, which was 848 females per 1,000 males in 2007, has now stabilised at 915. This figure had gone up to 1,004 due to certain factors in 2007.