WHAT EXPLAINS RURAL-URBAN DIFFERENTIALS IN CHILD-MORTALITY IN BRAZIL

This paper presents an analysis of differentials in child survival by rural-urban place of residence in Brazil and examines the hypothesis t hat observed mortality differentials by place of residence are merely manifestations of underlying differences in socioeconomic status and d emographic and reproductive behavior. The child mortality data come fr om the 1986 Demographic and Health Survey of Brazil and supplementary community-level variables are obtained from a database assembled by th e Brazilian federal statistical agency. Child mortality rates are subs tantially and significantly lower in urban areas of Brazil. Our result s suggest, however, that the urban advantage does not simply reflect u nderlying differences in socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics at the individual and household levels; rather, community variables ap pear to play an independent and important role. We also find that the effects of community characteristics on child survival are moderated b y household socioeconomic factors, especially maternal education. Diff erences in socioeconomic characteristics are therefore important in ex plaining rural-urban child mortality differentials, but not in the way hypothesized by previous researchers. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.