Spatial demography

India’s fertility is declining and at present the country is experiencing significant demographic transition. The fertility pattern at the district level shows robust spatial and spatio-temporal clustering of low fertility values on the one hand and spatial heterogeneity in fertility pattern on the other. While the role of socio-economic factors in explaining fertility variations and its decline have been analyzed in detail, limited attention has been given to explain why reproductive behaviour shows clear spatial dependency resulting in robust spatial clustering at different fertility levels. The present study tries to bridge this gap. Employing geo-spatial technique, it brings out the pattern of spatial clustering in fertility and its regional variations from 1981 to 2011. Next, multivariate research methodology has been applied to analyse the relative role played by space in explaining fertility variations during the last three decades. Our findings taken together indicate that spatial diffusion has played a crucial role in India’s ongoing fertility transition.

Key words: Fertility transition, spatial contiguity, contour maps, spatial regression, spatial diffusion, etc.
JEL Classification: J13, J11, C15, C31, etc.

The aim of the communication is to analyse the onset of extra-marital births in each district of Switzerland between 1970 and 2000. The starting time of the spread of extra-marital birth differed according to regions. It has, for example, first increased in the French speaking area of Switzerland and in urbanized areas. We suspect a spatial diffusion process. Data we use is the level of out-of-wedlock births for each district of Switzerland at four moments, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000. We define the time of the onset of out-of-wedlock births for each district following a method suggested by Bocquet-Appel and Jakobi (1998). We then estimated an event history model of this time in which we introduce as a characteristic a social distance between districts which already experiment an increase of extra-marital births and those which did not. This social distance is considered as a proxy of the nearness between districts. Provisory results show a significant effect of this distance on the hazard rate. Lesser is the distance and higher is the probability of the onset. This result confirms our hypothesis of a diffusion process on the Swiss territory.

High child mortality and morbidity in developing countries are closely associated with limited access to and poor quality of health care. In Nepal, previous studies reveal disparities in child health outcomes by gender, geographic location, and across socioeconomic levels. Still, determinants of utilization of child health services have not been rigorously examined while incorporating the spatial dimension. Using four Nepal DHS surveys, we analyze the association of socioeconomic and geographic determinants on child health services utilization over time and across geographic regions. Formal health service coverage is assessed through the use of GIS and measures of spatial association show the likelihood of these pediatric patients seeking diarrhea and/or respiratory illness care. Preliminary results will demonstrate the role of child, mother and household-level socioeconomic determinants in determining health services utilization for children in Nepal, and how the relationships change over time. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the DHS survey and associated spatial data as tools to conduct health services research. In order to improve child mortality and morbidity, it is important to understand the determinants of healthcare use so that appropriate policies and programs can be designed to maximize health services use.

Filipinos are homogeneously Christian in terms of religion and such generalization will be examined further or will be challenged by doing a spatial analysis. This paper focuses in studying the province of Laguna, which had a total population of 1,965,872 in 2000. The study examines quantitatively patterns of religious diversity in the population of the province. Specifically, it will classify religious groups in the Philippines from the spatial aggregation of Philippine Census of Population and Housing 2000 data. The diversity in religion and diversity in religion by ethnicity were measured by applying the Lieberson methodology of measuring population diversity within (Aw) and population diversity between (Ab) populations in the 30 municipalities of Laguna. Results show that only three municipalities, Santa Cruz (0.2495), Luisiana (0.2434), and Pagsanjan (0.2133) record high diversity indices within municipalities compared to the other twenty-seven municipalities. Same results yield from computing the diversity indices between municipalities. Even controlling for the ethnicity, the religious diversity do not change. Whether Tagalog (0.2364) or Non-Tagalog (0.2668), the probability of selecting a pair having a different religion is low. Overall, the religious diversity of the Lagunese does not exhibit heterogeneity.

With ageing development the need for thorough analysis of this process increases, especially for Spain, because in general Spain may be considered as rather “old” country. The Valencian Community (the VC) is the fourth country’s region in terms of population size and consists of three parts: Alicante, Castellon and Valencia having different population size and demographic indicators.

The paper aims to make a comparative analysis of ageing development in the regions of the VC since the beginning of the 1990s.

Changes in age structure by major age groups will be considered, and a number of ageing characteristics will be computed for the VC and its regions. Ageing indicators for the VC will be compared with those for Spain as a whole. To characterize the situation in regard to population ageing, conventional measures and quantitative characteristics that take account of remaining years of life will be examined.

The paper is based on censuses and micro-data on vital events.

The study is revealing similarities and diversities in dynamics of ageing indicators for the VC and Spain, and inside the VC. Results of the study may contribute to the management, administration and planning of social programmes related to population ageing.

In the past three decades there has been a remarkable increase in literature pertaining to migration to and from as well as within South-East Asia. Researchers from several social science disciplines have identified regional patterns of population movements. The South Asian sub-continent has long experienced virtually uninterrupted demographic mobility which was reflected in the almost unchecked transfer of population and resultant population redistribution in a number of places. Such population mobility was due to both environmental and socio-economic causes. India, one of the most important countries in south Asia, has received number of international migrants since Independence. The reasons are partly historical and partly economic and political. Of the many reasons for immigration into the country, most studies have ignored one important demographic dimension of these immigrants, which pertains to age in terms of aging characteristics of the migrants.

In the first four years of the administration of Felipe Calderón, the homicides rate rose from 8.1 to 22.7 deaths per hundred thousand people and the deaths that occurred on suspicion of criminal rivalry (FOPRD) from 2.6 to 13.5 deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants. Regardless of the rise in violence, the official version is that it is concentrated in a few states or municipalities. For example, the Secretary of the Interior, stated that 70% of FOPRD in 2010 occurred in 7 entities: Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Guerrero, Durango, Mexico State and Nuevo Leon. This paper, noting the change in homicide rates and FOPRD, shows that violence was actually spread in the country during 2007-2010.

Uttar Pradesh state with a population of about 200 millions is the India’s most populous state and accounts for 16% of the country’s population and about 9% of geographical area. The state is divided into four distinct regions and 71 districts.
The study examine the variation in the utilization of RCH services viz. antenatal care, safe deliveries, child immunization, and reproductive & child health status in the districts of Uttar Pradesh. The district level analysis is carried out for all districts as recorded in DLSH-3 (2007-08). Different composite indices are computed to study the pattern of socio-economic development, availability of health facilities, utilization of RCH services and reproductive and child health status in the districts of Uttar Pradesh state. All districts are ranked according to the values of these indices and GIS maps are also prepared.
The study reveals that utilization of health services and social development depicts strong negative relation with reproductive morbidities. Overall, reproductive and child health are highly and positively associated with utilization of RCH services, and quality of services. It clearly demonstrates that districts having higher utilization of RCH services, better quality of services also have relatively better reproductive and child health.

In Tanzania, despite the fact that majority of population lives within 5 kilometers of a primary health facility, utilization of these facilities is limited owing to poor quality of primary healthcare. This study tests the hypothesis that women bypass the nearest primary health facility in order to receive better care for antenatal care (ANC) elsewhere and assesses covariates of this behavior. We combine original data on mothers with recent pregnancies from cross-sectional household survey (n=912) with health facility survey collected in 2011 in Rufiji, Kilombero and Ulanga Districts. Bypassers are defined as mothers who opt to seek care at facilities other than the nearest to her home village. Multivariate logistic regression is used to examine the maternal and contextual factors associated with odds of bypassing proximate facilities. Initial results show more than half of women interviewed sought these services at a health facility outside of home village rather than at the closest dispensary. Bypassers were 5 to 6 times more likely to visit health center or hospital than primary dispensary. The strong patterns of bypassing reveal mothers’ preferences for better ANC services, despite additional costs and time involved. This suggests crucial need to improve the quality of community-based ANC services to achieve health equity.

Over the years, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have been heralded as the Philippines’ bagong bayani (‘new heroes) for their contribution to the national economy. Despite this celebratory narrative, much has to be said about how the OFW phenomenon has impacted communities in the Philippines. Using a spatial demographic approach, this paper re-examines the migration-development nexus involving OFWs by re-mapping the multiple ways migrants and their networks are embedded in local development narratives. First, the paper explicates the spatial dynamics of OFWs and local development outcomes of localities. Spatial clusters of local government units (LGUs) exhibiting varied levels of percentage of OFW residents and poverty incidence over time are located. These clusters serve as contextual signifiers that hint at the community articulation of migration-development dynamics where OFWs differentially interact with state institutions, kinship relations, civil society groups, and market forces. Using case studies, everyday spaces of communities are analyzed to show how transnational lives of OFWs are entrenched in actual locations and impacting local development.