Spatial pattern of development, gender disparity and demographic diversity in India: a regional analysis

Subhra Datta, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
M. Guruswamy, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Tarun K. Roy, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Ever since the formulation of the demographic transition theory, several researchers have studied the linkages between development and demographic outcomes but none of the studies have taken care of the strength of family welfare programme, which seems to be important considering the recent development. The present paper tries to examine the regional variation in India in terms of socio-economic conditions, cultural traits, family welfare programme and their relative role in explaining fertility and child mortality using data from the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), 2002 and National Family Health Survey-II, (NFHS-II) 1998-99. The analysis has been done on 75 regions across the country. Factor analysis was carried out to find the dominant factors in each direction. Among the factors of the three dimensions, the programme factor exerts more influence than the other factors in reducing fertility whereas in reducing child loss the socio-economic factor plays a greater role.