An areal analysis of infant and child mortality in West Java

Abstract

This thesis examines the regional differences in infant and child mortality in West Java based on the data from the 1980 Indonesian Population Census. The thesis also examines the demographic and socio-economic indicators associated with those regional differences in infant and child mortality. West Java is known as the most fertile among the provinces in Java. However, the infant and child mortality in this province are the highest. The infant and child mortality in West Java are found to be substantially different between the various regencies in the province . In general, the results of this study indicate that regional differences in infant and child mortality in regencies are due to differences in socio-economic status of the regencies. The regencies which have better socio-economic conditions appear t 0 have lowe r infant mortality. Among the socio-economic indicators, the percentage of women aged 10 years and over who have completed at least elementary school is found to be the most important factor in explaining regional differences in infant and child mortality. The study finds that the demographic and health indicators do not show a significant relationship with the regional differences in infant and child mortality.