Abstract

Though the levels of infant and child mortality in India have been declining over the years, it is still considerably high among the north-central states. This paper, using data of National Health and Family Survey (NFHS-2), 1998-99, tries to find out the effects of various spatial, demographic and socio-economic factors on neonatal, post-neonatal and childhood mortality in the large state of Uttar Pradesh in north-central India. It also tries to re-examine the hypothesis that, endogenous (demographic or biological) factors are primarily responsible for neonatal mortality, whereas exogenous (socio-economic) factors contribute more in the post-neonatal and childhood period. The results of multivariate analyses broadly confirm the hypothesis, though maternal education and length of the preceding birth interval have profound positive effect on survival during all the period; neonatal, post-neonatal and childhood.

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