Year: 2017 | Month: March | Volume 6 | Issue 1
District-Level Wealth-Inequality in Infant Mortality in India
Abstract:
Using data from population based surveys; it has been tried to examine the extent of district-level wealth inequality in infant mortality in India, considering the districts as the units of analysis. Analysis shows that there was significant variation in infant mortality among districts of India. About one-fifth of the districts had IMR of above 65 of which more than 65% districts are economically backward. The degree of wealth inequality in infant mortality was higher among economically backward districts than that of economically well-off districts. Results from regression analysis suggest that the factors such as female literacy, the proportion of households having toilet facility and female workforce participation rate are the most significant predictors of district-level variation in infant mortality. The proportion of households having toilet facility has a strong bearing on infant mortality, indicating that availability of basic sanitation would help in reducing infant mortality. The female literacy and female workforce participation rate have strong and negative effects on infant mortality. The magnitude of the coefficients for female literacy, proportion of households having toilet facility and female workforce participation indicates that the level of IMR would decline by 7%, 5% and 4% for every 10% increase in female literacy rate, the proportion of households having toilet facility and female workforce participation rate, respectively. It has been found that the level of IMR is likely to be higher in the northern region and Uttar Pradesh and lower in the southern region of India.
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