Results
Levels of incidence of low birth weight for India and for
various states are given in Table 2. Just over one in four
children born in India in the late 1990s were of low birth
weight. This is one of the highest among the developing
countries. The level of low birth weight varies greatly
across India. While the Indian capital, New Delhi, reported
the lowest level (19%), the highest incidence was found in
Jammu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil
Nadu, all over 30%. Some surprising outliers are Bihar
(19%), West Bengal (21%), Assam (22%) and Andhra