Last week Indian prime minister Narendra Modi kicked-off a controversy when he drew parallels between the infant death in Kerala and Somalia while speaking at an election campaign. The comparison drew immediate criticism from both the ruling and opposition parties in Kerala, a state known to have one of the best infant mortality rate in the country.

Additionally, despite making the claim, the PM or the government has not been able to back it up.

According to the available data from 2001 census, Kerala had an infant mortality rate of 60 among STs, while the national average was 84. MP with an infant mortality rate of 110 among STs topped the list. At the same period of time, as per World Bank Data, the infant mortality rate of Somalia stood at 105.

Infact, according to the latest figures by the World Bank a number of African countries are far better than India when it comes to infant mortality.

13 African countries including Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania,and Eritrea have outperformed India when it comes to IMR.

Uganda is the only African country which has the same IMR of India (42 deaths per every 1000 live births) The CIA figures for India for the year 2015 puts the IMR at 41.8

When it comes to statewise figures, Manipur and Goa (10) are the best states in when it comes to IMR, while the corresponding figures for Kerala were at 12. BJP ruled Gujarat (38) and Rajasthan (49) are far worse than many African countries.