Socioeconomic determinants of child mortality: Evidence from Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

This paper attempts to highlight socioeconomic determinants of child mortality in Pakistan. Binary logistic regression is applied to 7297 observations from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012-13. The results reveal that probability of child mortality decreases with greater birth-interval, child's large size at birth, more family members, mother's education, mother's ownership of assets and mother's decision-making at the household level. Policy makers can work to improve mothers' characteristics such as fertility behavior, education, empowerment and decision-making at the household level, to reduce child mortality.