The rate of infant and child mortality is very high among the people of India particularly those living in rural areas. This paper examines levels, trends and socio-demographic factors associated with infant and child mortality among few states. The government of India has conducted the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) in 2015 and some partial results from a few states are now available. It is a similar type of countrywide surveys which was conducted in 1992 (NFHS 1), 1998 (NFHS 2), 2005 (NFHS 3). The complete data collection work of the HFHS 4 is still in progress, some preliminary inferences can be drawn from the available data. Few states and union territories including Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal (now Bengal) were covered in the first phase of survey and data related to these regions has been released.
It is possible to comment on certain trends on progress made in the last couple of decades by comparing the data from 2015 in selected states with data from 1992 (NFHS 1) to 2005 (NFHS 3). Some parameters have been selected in few states, for which data is available, and compared them with data from 1992 to 2015. It was found significant variations in infant and child mortality over the time period from 1992 to 2015 among these regions. It was also found that some other factors, like the interval of birth between two children, available household wealth and facilities and region were made significant impact on infant and child mortality.