NEW DELHI, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 44,000 women die every year while giving birth in India. This shocking revelation has come straight from the Indian government.
"The latest available data on maternal mortality rate is for the period 2011-13, which is 167 per 1,00,000 live births. As per this, it is estimated that approximately 44,000 women die during delivery every year," Indian Health Minister J.P. Nadda told the Parliament Tuesday.
The northeastern state of Assam tops the maternal mortality rate list with 300 deaths per 100,000 live births, followed by the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand at 285, western state of Rajasthan at 244 and the eastern state of Odisha at 222, the Health Minister said.
However, the Indian government said that the country has shown decline in infant mortality rate from 40 per 1,000 lives in 2013 to 39 in 2014.
