NEW DELHI: Olympic medalist Mary Kom would be happy to hear this.

Manipur has burst into the scene to become the best place to be born in India along with Goa.

For every 1,000 live births, 11 die in Manipur as compared to 59 in Madhya Pradesh , which ranks as the worst place in the country to be born. The infant mortality rate (IMR) in Manipur has dipped to 11 in 2011 as against 14 in 2010.

Goa, like last year, is still the best place to be born in India. However in a strange twist of events, the state has actually recorded an increase in IMR among smaller states – from 10 infant deaths per 1,000 live births to 11 in 2011.

West Bengal is the only major state to record a rise in IMR.

The latest Sample Registration Survey (SRS) data sent to the Union health ministry by the Registrar General of India on Friday shows that while the IMR for Bengal was 31 in 2010, it has increased to 32 in 2011 – one more child dying per 1,000 live births.

Overall in India, IMR has dropped by three points from 47 to 44 infants deaths per 1,000 live births during 2011.

The IMR for rural areas has dropped by three points from 51 to 48 infant deaths, while the urban rate stands at 29 in 2011 from the previous 31 in 2010.

Around 19 more children are dying in rural India per 1,000 live births as compared to urban India. While IMR in urban India stood at 29 in 2011, it was 48 in rural India.

In Maharashtra, 25 children died per 1,000 live births, whereas Delhi's IMR stood at 28. Tamil Nadu had an IMR of 22 (24 in 2010).

According to SRS 2011, among major states, Maharashtra has seen the largest percentage decline in IMR – 14.7% over 2010, followed by Punjab (11.5%), Karnataka and Kerala (10.3%), Tamil Nadu (9.3%) and Bihar (8.1%).

National Rural Health Mission chief Anuradha Gupta told TOI that compared to 2010, India in 2011 has seen a 6.3% reduction in annual infant mortality rate compared to 1.7% in 2005.

This, Gupta says, is largely due to the tremendous increase in institutional deliveries, thanks to the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), which was launched in April, 2005, which promoted institutional delivery among would-be mothers by providing cash assistance.

"One big reason for the dip in IMR is the 24x7 public health facilities. Also states have given tremendous attention to neonatal health. There are at present 384 sick and new born child units (SNCUs) that handle critical neonatal cases," Gupta said.

States with the highest IMR are Madhya Pradesh (59), Odisha and Uttar Pradesh (57), Assam (55), Rajasthan and Meghalaya (52) and Chhattisgarh (48).

The top five states with the lowest IMR are Goa and Manipur (11), Kerala (12), Puducherry (19), Chandigarh (20) and Nagaland (21).

Urban IMR was highest in Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh (41), followed by Odisha (40), Madhya Pradesh (39), Meghalaya (38) and Haryana (35).

States like Assam with an IMR of 55, Chhattisgarh (48), Madhya Pradesh (59), Odisha (57), Rajasthan (52) and UP (57) still have IMRs more than the national average of 44.

Institutional deliveries, where children are delivered at health centres or hospitals and not their homes, have picked up in India over the last five-odd years.

Around 60 lakh more children were born in safe confines of healthcare centres in 2010-11 as compared to 2005-06. On the other hand, from 7.39 lakh pregnant women as beneficiaries in 2005-06, the JSY reached out to about 113 lakh in 2010-11. Consequently, the financial expenditure, under the scheme, increased manifold from Rs 38 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 1,618 crore in 2010-11.