Infant Mortality in Bangladesh : Trends and Differentials
Sharifa Begum
Abstract
During the sixties overall infant mortality rate of Bangladesh was largely static. It increased considerably in the early seventies following the liberation war of 1971 and the country wide famine of 1974. Mortality differentials by residence however, reveals that unchanged mortality situation during sixties prevailed only in rural area of Bangladesh and urban mortality had been able to achieve noteworthy improvements at that time. This situation got reverses during bad years of early seventies. Urban mortality at that time as evidenced deteriorated more compared to that in rural area suggesting greater vulnerability of the urban mortality in Bangladesh during food shortages and other crises. This study found negative relationship between infant mortality and the parent’s education particularly with the mother’s education and also with the house types or housing comditions.