Urban-Rural Differences in Infant Mortality in India

Aashish Gupta , Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

Rural areas in contemporary developing countries have higher infant mortality. This is in contrast to historical patterns in developed countries, where urban areas faced a mortality penalty. This paper examines the rural-urban differences in infant mortality in India, home to one-fifth of all infant deaths in the world. I find that environmental exposures, and in particular, solid fuel use, can explain a large portion of the difference in infant mortality between rural and urban areas in India. From a policy perspective, the paper argues that efforts to improve health in should go beyond improving health access in rural areas, while pollution should not be seen only as an urban problem. Theoretically, the findings advance understandings of the ongoing epidemiological transition in developing countries. Although patterns of rural-urban mortality disadvantage are reversed in contemporary developing countries, much like historical developed countries, environmental exposures play an important role in generating these differences.

See paper

 Presented in Session 11. Health & Mortality 2