Kerala topped in India’s annual Health Index 2019-20 in terms of overall performance tracked by the country’s national planning body Niti Ayog, with a score of 82.20 in the large states category. The other states that achieved the second, third and fourth position in this category were Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra with a score of 72.42, 69.96 and 69.14 respectively. Uttar Pradesh came at the bottom of the list with a score of 30.57.   

The annual Health Index tracks the progress on health outcomes and health systems performance in order to develop healthy competition and encourage cross learning among states and Union Territories. The Index Scores and rankings for states and UTs are generated to assess Incremental Performance (year-to-year progress) and Overall Performance (current performance). 

The Health Index report for the year 2019-20 released by Niti Ayog on Monday showed that Kerala, Tamil nadu and Telangana emerged among the best three performers in terms of overall Performance among the large states. Uttar Pradesh with the lowest Overall Reference Year (2019-20) Index Score ranked at the bottom (Rank 19) in Overall Performance, the report revealed. 

This is the fourth consecutive year that Kerala emerged as the best performer in terms of Overall Performance. Telangana performed well both in terms of Overall Performance as well as Incremental Performance and secured the third position in both instances. Uttar Pradesh ranked at the top in terms of Incremental Performance by registering the highest incremental change from the Base Year (2018-19) to Reference Year (2019-20). 

Among the Smaller States, Mizoram emerged as the best performer in Overall Performance as well as Incremental Performance, while among UTs, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir ranked among the bottom UTs in terms of Overall Performance but emerged as the leading performer in terms Incremental Performance.