VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Pradesh is one of the few states in the country that have achieved more than 90% registration of the total births and deaths within the prescribed time period of 21 days, as per the Civil Registration System (CRS) report 2020. The Union government released the report on Tuesday.
As per the report, the number of births stood at 7,14,017 in Andhra Pradesh in 2020, the lowest in the last seven years starting from 2014. The sex ratio at birth was 939.
In the same year (2020), which witnessed the onset and avalanche of Covid-19 cases, Andhra Pradesh recorded 4,55,000 deaths – the highest in the last 10 years starting from 2011. As many as 5,247 infants aged less than 1-year died this year. More than 1.73 lakh people in the 70-plus age group breathed their last in 2020. This is the highest for any age group. There were 846 still births in AP .
The unprecedented crisis situation around Covid-19, subsequent lockdowns and infection spikes might have been associated with the decreased birth rates in Andhra Pradesh in 2020.
Similar was the nationwide trend. The number of registered births decreased to 2.42 crores in 2020 from 2.48 crores in 2019. At the same time, there was an uptick in the death numbers compared to earlier years – from 76.4 lakhs in 2019 to 81.2 lakh in 2020.
As per the report, only 1.3% of the total registered deaths in India during 2020 received medical attention from qualified medical professionals. About 45% of the deceased did not get any medical attention at the time of death. A uniform software, developed by the Office of Registrar General India, is being implemented in all the birth/death registration units in AP. Digitalisation of old records pertaining to the 2005-2014 period has been completed in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.
