Mortality, fertility and gender bias in India : a district level analysis
- London Development economics research programme 1995
- 53p.
This paper examines the determinants of fertility, child mortality and gender bias in child mortality in India using district-level data from the 1981 Census of India. A common set of explanatory variables is used including male and female literacy, the level of poverty, female labour force participation, urbanization, health-care facilities and other socio-economic variables. The equations may be interpreted as the reduced form of a system that jointly determines fertility, mortality and gender differences in child mortality.
The analysis brings out the powerful demographic influence of variables that relate directly to women's agency, such as female literacy and female labour force participation. Female literacy, in particular, significantly reduces child mortality, fertility levels, and the female disadvantage in child survival. Female labour force participation has no statistically significant effect on the level of child mortality, but reduces gender bias in child survival as well as fertility levels.
Variables reflecting the general level of development and modernization (e.g. per-capita expenditure, male literacy, urbanization, and the availability of medical facilities) have a negative but comparatively weak impact on mortality and fertility levels, and, if anything, amplify rather than reduce the gender bias in child survival. In particular, we find that the female disadvantage in child survival is significantly lower in districts with higher poverty levels.
The paper concludes with a discussion of various extensions of the basic model, and of some practical implications of these findings.