Poverty, RCH-Care Utilization and Fertility in India: A District Level Analysis

The study highlights interlinkages amongst district level poverty, socioeconomic developmental indices, RCH-care utilization and fertility. Thereby the study formulates a recursive model to highlight the structural linkages between marriage age patterns, contraception, antenatal and delivery care, children’s immunization and fertility. The parametric estimates of the recursive structural system are based on data for 504 districts of India on relevant parameters from alternate sources like district level household surveys – reproductive and child health (DLHS-RCH), center for monitoring Indian economy (CMIE), censuses, etc. The elicited parametric estimates are utilized to elicit the partial and total effects of exogenous or predetermined socioeconomic and cultural variables on the endogenous variables in the system. The study highlights strong interlinkages between fertility, contraception, marriage age patterns, antenatal and delivery care, and immunization. [Working paper No.257] URL:[http://www.iegindia.org/]