Impact of Socio-demographic Factors on Mortality before Third Birth Day in Madhya Pradesh

The present study is an attempt to examine the factors affect on mortality of children under age three in Madhya Pradesh (a state in India) based on data collected from NFHS-III 2005-06. The differentials of mortality for children under age of three in Madhya Pradesh are observed as mother’s age at child birth, preceding birth interval, sex of child, birth order, mother’s work status, and economic standard of the household. The result clearly shows that child death increases with increase in birth order. Child death is also higher among the women belonging to household with low wealth index, younger and illiterate women than their counterparts. The multivariate survival analysis technique i.e. Cox proportional hazard model has been used to identify the determinants of children under age three mortality. The interesting finding shows that the relative importance of demographic factors in influencing child mortality supersedes the socio-economic factors. This study may help policy maker to take appropriate action against under-three mortality in the State Madhya Pradesh.