City studies on nutrition: Bangalore, India

The size of urban population in developing Asian countries grows at a faster rate than in the developed West. Urban cities in India are being crushed by the onslaught of population growth, migration of rural poor and industrialization, the urbanization in turn inducing social and economic changes. During the decade 1972-81, India's population grew by 25%, urban population by over 40% and that of Bangalore city by 76%. The 1991 Census records the population of Bangalore city at 4.1 million, though the decennial growth rate seems to have begun to decline. The current sex ratio is 900 females to 1000 males with nearly 50% of the population literate and the density of population at 2200 per km2. With the rapidly expanding "conurbation" (continuous urbanization), the number of slum settlements have increased with Bangalore having recorded the highest annual growth rate of 27.4% in its slum population accounting for more than 10% of the share of its population in the slums within the corporation limits. 29% of the population in urban areas in the State is under the poverty line and the percentage under the poverty line may be higher in the city. In this situation the nutrition of the mother and child is most vulnerable. The incidence of low birth weight recorded in a Government Hospital in Bangalore was between 30-40% and the IMR at 47/1000 births. Incidence of child mortality was 5% for children under 1 year and 3% for preschool children. The percent distribution of PEM in preschool children was 41, 31 and 1 for Gomez Grades I, II and III respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)