India has recorded a decline in under-five mortality rate. However, more females are dying even now before they reach their fifth birthday. Country's latest Sample Registration System data finalised by the Registrar General of India says India in total saw 15.41 lakh under-five deaths in 2010 as compared to 16.83 lakh in 2009.According to the data, while the death rate of male children before they reached five years of age stood at 55 deaths per 1,000 male children born in 2010, it was 64 deaths per 1,000 when it came to female children.Also, the child mortality rate was much higher in rural India than in urban. While 61 male children died per 1,000 male births in rural India, the corresponding figure for females stood at 71 .The corresponding numbers for urban India were 36 for male children and 40 for female children.Among Indian states, Assam recorded the highest overall under-five mortality rate followed by Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. At the other end of the spectrum, Kerala recorded the lowest overall under-five mortality rate of 15 followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra , Delhi , Punjab and Karnataka. Deaths of female children before their fifth birthday was highest in Assam and UP and lowest in Kerala.AIR correspondent reports that India, however, still has a higher under-five mortality rate than poorer neighbours like Nepal and Bangladesh and much higher than in Sri Lanka ,according to the World Health Organisation's 'World Health Statistics 2011'.