What the states show

THE latest edition of The Economist revealed unpublished data from a 2013-14 survey that was based on over 200,000 interviews, conducted in India by the UN agency for children, Unicef, and the Indian government. The Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), a high-quality study, shows full immunisation rates for children by state (among other things) and makes clear that wealth is not correlated directly with better health outcomes. Most notably, the relatively prosperous state of Gujarat, which was above the national average for immunisation in 2002, has since fallen well below the national average. The report was due to be published in October last year. The data are embarrassing for the man who ruled Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, Narendra Modi, who is now the prime minister. Might this have something to do with the delay?

The survey shows that in national terms there has been stagnation in recent years so far as immunisation is concerned. Full immunisation means that children receive protection against measles, tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria and several other prevalent diseases. Across India the RSOC data found an overall immunisation rate of 65.2%, with 71.9% of children in urban areas covered but only 62.2% of rural ones. Boys and girls are immunised roughly equally (64.9% for males, 65.5% for females) suggesting no discrimination there. On the other hand, results for low-caste Indians who are categorised as “scheduled caste” (61.6%) and for Indians categorised as “scheduled tribes” (55.5%), suggest that society's more neglected members are still being left behind. Similarly, among those categorised as lowest-income only 50.5% were immunised, whereas the wealthiest group managed 80.7% coverage.