Maternal Mortality Disparities in India

Sangita Vyas, University Of Texas At Austin
Payal Hathi, University of California, Berkeley
Aashish Gupta, Harvard University

The world is unlikely to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for maternal mortality, in part due to large and growing disparities in maternal mortality within countries. Maternal mortality disparities have been difficult to study in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts, where most maternal deaths occur, due to underdeveloped vital registration systems. Using Demographic and Health Survey data, this study is the first to quantify inequalities in maternal mortality across social group, economic status, and urban versus rural residence in India, a country with deep social inequalities and the largest population in the world. Relative to high-caste Hindus, maternal mortality among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is more than double, and among Muslims and Other Backward Classes is approximately 1.5 times larger. Maternal mortality among the poorest women is almost 2.5 times that among the richest women. Rural women’s maternal mortality is about 1.5 times higher than that of urban women. The relative disparities are similar in magnitude to the Black-White maternal mortality gap in the United States, but absolute disparities in India are more than four times larger because overall maternal mortality is higher. Findings underscore the global imperative to address maternal health disparities rooted in social inequalities within, in addition to across, populations.

Keywords: Mortality and Longevity, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

See extended abstract.