Did You Know?

* Polio remains a serious threat in India, notwithstanding a massive campaign to eradicate it. Indian children continue to die of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles.
* Malnutrition affects nearly half of all children under the age of five in India.
* Anaemia affects the vast majority of pregnant women and teenage girls in India, stunts children’s growth, and is a leading cause of maternal death and babies with low birth weight.
* Estimates of the number of people in India living with HIV/Aids range from 2.2-7.6 million.
* Diarrhoea, often caused by unsafe drinking water or poor sanitation, is the second leading cause of death among children in India. Access to clean drinking water has improved in recent years, but 122 million households still lack toilets.
* School enrolment is increasing in India, but retention and completion rates remain low in part because of the poor quality of the education system, which emphasizes memorization over problem solving.
* Indian women face many forms of gender discrimination. A national preference for male children has led to an increasing gap in gender ratios of children under the age of six; a trend that may be attributed to female foeticide.
* The December 2004 tsunami struck India’s southeast coast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, killing thousands and causing widespread destruction.
* School enrolment in India has increased over the past decade, and the gender gap in enrolment rates has been reduced dramatically. Literacy rates have also improved.
* The Indian government has made school sanitation and hygiene an integral part of its national sanitation and water supply programmes.
* In 1990, India had an under-five mortality rate of 123 (per 1 000 live births) and in the year 2004, the same rate was 85.
* In 1990, India had an infant mortality rate of 84 (per 1 000 live births) and in the year 2004, the same rate was 62.
* The total population of India reached 1 087 124 000 in 2004.
* In 2002, 82 percent of the rural population in India used improved drinking water sources.
* In 2002, 18 percent of the rural population in India used adequate sanitation facilities.
* The male adult literacy rate in India was 73 percent and the female was 48 percent during the period 2000-04.
* Only 7 percent of all Indians have telephones and a mere 2 percent are Internet users.
* The life expectancy has increased from 49 years in 1970 to 64 years in 2004.
* Thirty-five percent of all people in India live on less than one dollar (US) per day.

Source: UNICEF