Mapping Gender Inequality in Child Deaths at the Local Level in India, 1991–2011

Akansha Singh

India is the country, which contributes to the largest child deaths in the world and the largest number of excess female deaths. The presence of such sex differentials in child mortality is well observed in India since the 1970s. The objective of the present study is to study the changing dynamics of excess female child deaths in India at the small administrative level and study social, economic, and cultural factors, which explains these differences in the last 20 years. Using geocoded district-level data from two rounds of Census (1991 and 2011) and OLS and geographically weighted regressions, this study identifies district-specific relationships between female disadvantage in under-five mortality rate (1986-1987 and 2006-2007) and a series of determinants. This study shows that the contribution of each demographic, socioeconomic or health factor vary locally, in a vast country like India. This indicates that tackling gender inequality in child mortality in a regionally diverse country like India is perplexing.

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 Presented in Session 3. Population, Development, & the Environment; Data & Methods; Applied Demography