Differences in infant mortality and their implications for policy.

Abstract

"This note tries to identify a few social and environmental factors that explain variation in infant mortality among some of the developing and developed countries of the world. Using the data of the Population Reference Bureau's World's Children Wall Chart, the authors have shown that access to drinking water supply is important as a single factor in reducing infant mortality. But adult female literacy and percentage of the labour force engaged in agriculture are more important. Female literacy has turned out to be the most crucial factor irrespective of the development status of the countries."