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Trends and pattern in excess female under-5 mortality in India

Vandana Tamrakar, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Nandita Saikia, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Excess female under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) continues in India. This study investigates the trend in excess female under-5 mortality rates in India for 1992-2016. We also analyze the excess female U5MR by socio-economic characteristics of the children. Using the synthetic cohort probability method, we estimated U5MR for five years prior to survey at the national and subnational level. Excess female U5MR was estimated using a the quadratic model on the relationship between male and female U5MR in the countries with no evidence of gender preference at birth. Excess female U5MR was 20.7 per 1000 live births (95% CI 19.9-21.4) in NFHS 1(1992-93), which corresponds to an estimated 882482 excess deaths (850448-913888) per year. In NFHS 4, it reduced to 5.37 per 1000 live births (95% CI 5.5, 5.3) with an absolute deaths 62126 (CI: 62957, -61139) in India. Socio-economic factors like no formal education of mother, poor wealth index, rural area, and higher birth order are associated with excess female mortality in India. Despite a reduction in excess female U5MR in recent years at the country level, the most populous north-central states cannot decimate the excess female deaths. These states need to focused attention on eliminating postnatal discrimination.

Keywords: Mortality, Inequality, Children and youth, Gender

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 146. Persisting Preferences for Sons