Children of the urban poor in Delhi are 3.2 times more likely to die than their richer counterparts, a report released here on Tuesday said.
The global under-five mortality rate has come down down by half from 90 to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2013 and the success story includes India.
India, in the same period, has achieved a decline of 54.4 percent as against the global progress of 44.8 percent, the report "The Urban Disadvantage", prepared by NGO Save the Children and released by Union Minister Najma Heptullah, said.
The report which analysed urban child survival gap between the rich and the poor urban kids in 36 developing countries shows that in the age group 0-5 years, the urban poor are 3.2 times more likely to die compared with the urban rich in Delhi.
The report's findings state that the quality of life of mothers and children in the urban slums of India's capital city is one of the worst in the world and the health inequity between the rich and the poor is stark.
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Heptullah said: "We used to feel that more children are not being taken care of in rural areas. But this report proves otherwise."
She said that the health of urban children was an important issue as by 2030 a significant amount of population will be moving to cities.
People living in slums and congested areas face a lot of health issues due to poor sanitation and congestion, she added.
The 10 countries showing the greatest survival divide between wealthy and poor urban children are: Rwanda, Cambodia, Kenya, Vietnam, Peru, India, Madagascar, Ghana, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
Sudeep Gadok, director of programs of Save the Children, said: "The government of India has made great progress in ensuring the survival of newborns, infants and mothers."
"For the first time in history, more than half of the world's population lives in urban areas. People are often drawn to cities by the prospect of a better life for their children, but many cities around the world are unable to keep up with breakneck growth."
"... leaving hundreds of millions of mothers and children in cities without access to essential health services and the clean water they need to survive and stay healthy," he said.
The report asserts that there is an urgent need to close the gap in life chances for mothers and children so that - no matter where they live - everyone has a fair chance to survive and fulfil their potential.
