New Delhi:
More than 17.4 lakh children in India die every year before they reach their fifth birthday, the government said today.
"As per SRS (Sample Registration System) data 2009, 17.4 lakh children are estimated to die before the age of five years," Minister of State for Health Sudip Bandhyopadhay said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
About 55 per cent of the deaths were neonatal or deaths in the first 28 days of life, he said.
Deaths due to pneumonia and diarrhoea account for 11 per cent each while measles cause four per cent of the under five mortality, the Minister said.
He said malnutrition, which is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa, is a multi-faceted problem.
It "is not a direct cause of deaths but contributes to morbidity by reducing resistance to infections".
However, the Minister said, "data on the number of deaths due to malnutrition in the country is not maintained centrally."
According to UNICEF data, one in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India.