Major State Indicators

• A hill state with some of the toughest terrain
• Population 8 million
• Literacy rate: 72%
• Infant Mortality rates have steadily fallen over the years. Urban IMR at 27 is much less compared to that for India – 44. But the rural IMR is same as that for India, 75.
• Basic amenities like Safe drinking water, toilet & electricity are non-existant to a large section of population.
• Most of the districts, especially hilly districts lie in the endemic belt for goiter.
• 40% of population in some pockets of Uttaranchal suffers from goiter
• Average food sufficiency is only for 4.9 months and the poor are the worst sufferers.
• Communicable diseases Leprosy, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Worm infestation, water-borne and water related diseases are deep rooted and cause considerable sickness, suffering and death.