A Longitudinal Analysis of Infant and Child Mortality Rates in Developing Countries

Child mortality is an important indicator of economic and social development in developing countries. This paper investigates the determinant of infant and child mortality rates in 13 African and 23 non-African developing countries using data based on demographic surveys. A longitudinal analysis incorporating temporal dependence in the data and cross-country heterogeneity is performed at the country level for the period 1975-85. The main findings are that elasticities of child mortality rates with respect to female illiteracy are close to unity in African countries but are lower for non-African countries. Also, real per capita Gross National Product and government expenditures on health are inversely associated with mortality rates in African countries. Some aspects of specifying models for child mortality and their implications are discussed.