Economic Status and Adult Mortality in India

Research on economic status and adult mortality is often stymied by the reciprocity of this relationship. While financial resources increase access to healthcare and nutrition and reduce mortality, sickness also reduces labor force participation, thereby reducing income. Without longitudinal data, it is difficult to study the linkage between economic status and mortality. Using data from a national sample of 132,116 Indian adults aged 15 years and above, this paper examines their likelihood of death between wave 1 of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), conducted in 2004- 05 and wave 2, conducted in 2011-12. The results show that mortality between the two waves is strongly linked to the economic status of the household at wave 1. Household wealth is also positively associated with the manifestation of hypertension, diabetes and cardiac conditions, but wealth also reduces the likelihood of death conditional on having these diseases. In fact, the wealth effect is somewhat stronger among those with these diseases.