WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

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P. AROKIASAMY
Given the overall level of excess female child mortality, previous
studies in India have demonstrated that higher mortality of girls than
boys is not a general phenomenon but the extent of its concentration
increases with increasing number of girls in the family (Das Gupta,
1987; Arnold et al., 1998).
In order to provide greater precision about the regional pattern of
such dynamics of sex differences in child mortality, results of regression
models were used to provide estimates of excess female child
mortality by sex-specific rank order of children (Figure 4).
Figure 4 Excess female child mortality at 12-47 months by rank of female
children and region, NFHS-1 (1992-93)
1.9
1.7
1.5
1.3
1.1
0.9
1st female/1st male
2nd female/2nd male
3rd female/3rd male
4th and higher female/4th and higher male
North North Central East West South India
Note: Odds ratios of child mortality by sex-and specific rank order (see details in source).
Source: Arokiasamy (2004).
In the North and North Central regions, the likelihood of excess
female child mortality is greater by about a third for the first girl child,
two-thirds for the second and more than two thirds for the third and
higher rank girls compared to the boys of the respective rank. The
odds of excess female child mortality are the next highest in the North
Cental region but lower than in the North region. In the other regions
of East, West and South excess risks of female child mortality are
marginal. This apart, in both South and West regions, the risk of child
mortality is greater for males compared to females for the fourth and
higher rank children. This is some substantiation of the point suggested
by Muhuri and Preston (1991) that parents might consciously
neglect individual children. In sum, the results of regression analyses
provide major evidence on the regional pattern of excess female child
mortality in India. Moreover, the overall excess female child mortality
of the regions have not been significantly altered in NFHS-2, clearly