Child mortality, social status, and fertility in India

The incidence of child mortality in relation to the social status and fertility of Indian women was investigated on the assumptions that: 1) the higher the social status, the lower the child mortality rate; and 2) the lower the child mortality rate, the lower the family size. 311 married women in Chandigarh were grouped into 4 status categories: (1) higher educated working women (95); (2) higher educated nonworking women (75); (3) less educated nonworking women (75); and (4) less educated working women (66). The 311 women gave birth to a total of 1075 children (960 living and 115 who had died, mostly between the ages 0-5 years). Percentage of children living (89%) was different for each status category: 93% for category 1; 92% for category 2; 91% for category 3; and 81% for category 4. When analyzed by proportion of women who had lost children in each status category, the relationship between child mortality and social status confirmed the assumption that the higher the social status, the lower the mortality. In category 1, 87% had not experienced any child mortality in their family; in category 2, the figure was 77%; category 3, 72%; and category 4, 48%. The findings also confirmed the other assumption that the lower the mortality rate, the lower the fertility (Table 2).