Mortality, Fertility and Gender Bias in India: A District-level Analysis

Abstract
This chapter evaluates inter-district patterns of fertility, child mortality, and gender bias in India using data from the 1981 census. The findings highlight the powerful effects of variables relating to women's agency on mortality and fertility. Further, higher levels of female literacy and female labour-force participation are associated with significantly lower levels of female disadvantage in child survival. On the other hand, variables relating to the general level of development and modernization have relative weak effects on demographic outcomes.