IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2004.060103_0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The mortality divide in India: The differential contributions of gender, caste, and standard of living across the life course

Author

Listed:
  • Subramanian, S.V.
  • Nandy, S.
  • Irving, M.
  • Gordon, D.
  • Lambert, H.
  • Smith, G.D.

Abstract

Objectives. We investigated the contributions of gender, caste, and standard of living to inequalities in mortality across the life course in India. Methods. We conducted a multilevel cross-sectional analysis of individual mortality, using the 1998-1999 Indian National Family Health Survey data for 529 321 individuals from 26 states. Results. Substantial mortality differentials were observed between the lowest and highest standard-of-living quintiles across all age groups, ranging from an odds ratio (OR) of 4.61 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.98, 7.13) in the age group 2 to 5 years to an OR of 1.97 (95% CI = 1.68, 2.32) in the age group 45 to 64 years. Excess mortality for girls was evident only for the age group 2 to 5 years (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.13, 1.58). Substantial caste differentials were observed at the beginning and end stages of life. Area variation in mortality is partially a result of the compositional effects of household standard of living and caste. Conclusions. The mortality burden, across the life course in India, falls disproportionately on economically disadvantaged and lower-caste groups. Residual state-level variation in mortality suggests an underlying ecology to the mortality divide in India.

Suggested Citation

  • Subramanian, S.V. & Nandy, S. & Irving, M. & Gordon, D. & Lambert, H. & Smith, G.D., 2006. "The mortality divide in India: The differential contributions of gender, caste, and standard of living across the life course," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(5), pages 818-825.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2004.060103_0
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.060103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2004.060103
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2004.060103?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2004.060103_0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.