INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY
7
This chapter provides information on levels, trends, and differentials in neonatal, postneonatal, infant, child, and under-five mortality, as well as levels and differentials in perinatal mortality. These mortality rates are relevant to a demographic assessment of the population and are an important measure of a country’s level of socioeconomic development andquality of life. They can also be used for monitoring and evaluating population and health programmes.
7.1
I
NFANT AND
C
HILD
M
ORTALITY
NFHS-3 asked all women age 15-49 to provide a complete history of their births includingfor each live birth, the sex, month and year of birth, survival status, and age at the time of the surveyor age at death. Age at death was recorded in days for children dying in the first month of life, inmonths for other children dying before their second birthday, and in years for children dying at later ages. This information was used to calculate the following direct estimates of infant and childmortality:
Neonatal mortality
: The probability of dying in the first month of life
Postneonatal mortality
: The probability of dying after the first month of life but before the first birthday
Infant mortality (
1
q
0
)
: The probability of dying before the first birthday
Child mortality (
4
q
1
)
: The probability of dying between the first and fifth birthdays
Under-five mortality (
5
q
0
)
: The probability of dying before the fifth birthday
7.2
L
EVELS AND
T
RENDS
Table 7.1 and Figure 7.1 present various measures of infant and child mortality byresidence for the three five-year periods preceding the survey. According to these estimates,infant mortality in India has declined from 77 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1991-95 (10-14years before the survey) to 57 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001-05 (0-4 years before thesurvey), thus implying an average rate of decline of 2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births per year.All other measures of infant and child mortality presented in Table 7.1 also show decliningtrends during the years before the survey. By comparing the estimates for the period 10-14 years before the survey with the estimates for the period 0-4 years before the survey, it is seen that theneonatal mortality rate has decreased by 12 deaths per 1,000 live births (from 51 to 39), the postneonatal mortality rate has decreased by 7 deaths per 1,000 live births (from 25 to 18), andthe child mortality rate (at age 1-4 years) has decreased by 14 deaths per 1,000 children age 1(from 32 to 18). In spite of these impressive declines, one out of every 14 children born duringthe five years before NFHS-3 will die before reaching age five.
179
Infant and Child Mortality |
Table 7.1 Early childhood mortality ratesNeonatal, postneonatal, infant, child, and under-five mortality rates for five-year periodspreceding the survey by residence, India, 2005-06 Years preceding the surveyNeonatalmortality(NN)Postneonatalmortality
1
(PNN)Infant mortality(
1
q
0
)Childmortality(
4
q
1
)Under-fivemortality(
5
q
0
)URBAN0-4 28.5 13.0 41.5 10.6 51.75-9 35.9 18.8 54.7 14.8 68.710-14 34.6 18.1 52.7 17.7 69.5RURAL0-4 42.5 19.7 62.2 21.0 82.05-9 53.9 24.2 78.1 28.7 104.510-14 57.5 28.1 85.5 38.4 120.6TOTAL0-4 39.0 18.0 57.0 18.4 74.35-9 49.3 22.8 72.2 25.0 95.410-14 51.3 25.3 76.6 32.3 106.5
1
Computed as the difference between the infant and neonatal mortality rates.
Figure 7.1
Early Childhood Mortality Rates for the Five-YearPeriod preceding the Survey, NFHS-1, NFHS-2, and NFHS-3
4930793310943246829953918571874
020406080100120Neonatal mortality PostneonatalmortalityInfant mortality Child mortality Under-fivemortalityNFHS-1 NFHS-2 NFHS-3
Deaths per 1,000
Infant and child mortality rates are considerably higher in rural areas than in urban areas.In 2001-05, the infant mortality rate was 50 percent higher in rural areas (62) than in urban areas(42). The rural-urban difference in mortality is especially large for children in the age interval 1-4 years, for whom the rate in rural areas is twice as high as the rate in urban areas. In both theneonatal and postneonatal periods, mortality in rural areas is about 50 percent higher thanmortality in urban areas.Infant and child mortality rates have declined slightly faster in rural areas than in urbanareas. Between 1991-95 and 2001-05, infant mortality declined by 27 percent in rural areas,compared with 21 percent in urban areas. During the same period, the child mortality rate
180
| Infant and Child Mortality
declined by 45 percent in rural areas, compared with 40 percent in urban areas. Even in theneonatal period, the decline in mortality was slightly faster in rural areas (26 percent) than inurban areas (18 percent).Rather than relying only on NFHS-3 data for the trend analysis, one can also use theestimates from NFHS-1 and NFHS-2 to discern the trends in infant and child mortality. For the period 0-4 years before the survey, NFHS-1 and NFHS-2 recorded infant mortality rates of 79and 68, respectively (see Table 7.2). Comparison of these estimates with the NFHS-3 estimate of 57 indicates that the infant mortality rate declined by 22 deaths per 1,000 live births inapproximately 13 years (with similar declines in the two periods). This implies an averagereduction of 1.7 infant deaths per year, which is slightly slower than the reduction of 2 infantdeaths per annum implied by the birth history data from NFHS-3. It should also be noted that theestimated infant mortality rate of 57 for 2001-05 from NFHS-3 is very close to the averageSample Registration System (SRS) estimate of 60 for the period 2002-05.
Table 7.2 Early childhood mortality rates by background characteristicsNeonatal, postneonatal, infant, child, and under-five mortality rates for the five-year period preceding the survey, by background characteristics and residence, India, 2005-06, and for NFHS-2 and NFHS-1Background characteristicNeonatalmortality(NN)Postneonatalmortality
1
(PNN)Infant mortality(
1
q
0
)Childmortality(
4
q
1
)Under-fivemortality(
5
q
0
)URBAN
Education
No education 38.2 23.1 61.3 21.4 81.4<5 years complete 39.9 13.4 53.3 6.5 59.45-7 years complete 31.4 16.7 48.1 7.5 55.28-9 years complete 25.8 5.4 31.2 4.7 35.710-11 years complete 16.2 8.3 24.5 4.3 28.712 or more years complete 19.4 4.2 23.6 4.7 28.2
Religion
Hindu 30.9 13.3 44.3 10.9 54.7Muslim 21.6 13.9 35.5 9.6 44.8Christian 11.3 5.0 16.3 9.4 25.5Sikh * * * * *Buddhist/Neo-Buddhist * * * * *Other * * * * *
Caste/tribe
Scheduled caste 35.0 15.7 50.7 15.5 65.4Scheduled tribe 29.0 14.8 43.8 10.4 53.8Other backward class 26.4 15.8 42.2 12.9 54.5Other 27.5 8.6 36.1 6.2 42.1
Wealth index
Lowest 39.4 25.4 64.8 29.2 92.1Second 40.8 21.6 62.4 21.5 82.5Middle 32.0 17.8 49.8 16.4 65.3Fourth 31.3 14.9 46.2 8.0 53.9Highest 21.1 6.3 27.4 5.6 32.8Total 28.5 13.0 41.5 10.6 51.7NFHS-2 31.7 15.4 47.0 16.9 63.1NFHS-1 34.1 22.0 56.1 19.6 74.6RURAL
Education
No education 47.0 24.1 71.1 27.8 97.0<5 years complete 50.5 18.6 69.2 15.8 83.85-7 years complete 35.8 14.4 50.1 13.3 62.88-9 years complete 35.1 11.6 46.7 6.1 52.510-11 years complete 35.0 10.5 45.5 3.0 48.312 or more years complete 20.0 9.6 29.6 2.3 31.8
Continued…
181
Infant and Child Mortality |
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Notes
Load more
