Borooah, Vani
Missing Women and India's Religious Demography Borooah, Vani [electronic resource] / Borooah, Vani - Washington, D.C., The World Bank, 2009 - 1 online resource (31 p.) - Policy research working papers. World Bank e-Library. .
The authors use recent data from the 2006 National Family Health Survey of India to explore the relationship between religion and demographic behavior. They find that fertility and mortality vary not only between religious groups, but also across caste groups. These groups also differ with respect to socio-economic status. The central finding of this paper is that despite their socio-economic disadvantages, Muslims have higher fertility than their Hindu counterparts and also exhibit lower levels of infant mortality (particularly female infant mortality). This effect is robust to the inclusion of controls for non-religious factors such as socio-economic status and area of residence. This result has important policy implications because it suggests that India's problem of "missing women" may be concentrated in particular groups. The authors conclude that religion and caste play a key role in determining the demographic characteristics of India.
10.1596/1813-9450-5096
Economic status
Family Health
Fertility
Fertility Rate
Gender
Gender bias
Health, Nutrition and Population
Important policy
Infant mortality
Law and Development
Levels of infant
Mortality
Number of children
Policy implications
Policy Research
Population growth
Population growth rate
Population Policies
Progress
Religious groups
Respect
Sex
Son preference
Missing Women and India's Religious Demography Borooah, Vani [electronic resource] / Borooah, Vani - Washington, D.C., The World Bank, 2009 - 1 online resource (31 p.) - Policy research working papers. World Bank e-Library. .
The authors use recent data from the 2006 National Family Health Survey of India to explore the relationship between religion and demographic behavior. They find that fertility and mortality vary not only between religious groups, but also across caste groups. These groups also differ with respect to socio-economic status. The central finding of this paper is that despite their socio-economic disadvantages, Muslims have higher fertility than their Hindu counterparts and also exhibit lower levels of infant mortality (particularly female infant mortality). This effect is robust to the inclusion of controls for non-religious factors such as socio-economic status and area of residence. This result has important policy implications because it suggests that India's problem of "missing women" may be concentrated in particular groups. The authors conclude that religion and caste play a key role in determining the demographic characteristics of India.
10.1596/1813-9450-5096
Economic status
Family Health
Fertility
Fertility Rate
Gender
Gender bias
Health, Nutrition and Population
Important policy
Infant mortality
Law and Development
Levels of infant
Mortality
Number of children
Policy implications
Policy Research
Population growth
Population growth rate
Population Policies
Progress
Religious groups
Respect
Sex
Son preference