Culture influences demographic behavior : evidence from India

Publication Date: January 1994

Publisher: East-West Center

Author(s): Allison Greenspan

Research Area: Culture and religion; Economics; Population and demographics

Type: Brief

Coverage: India

Abstract:

By controlling for the effects of standard socioeconomic variables on the demographic behavior of two culturally distinct migrant groups living in a Delhi resettlement colony, this study found that cultural differences between the two groups, from northern and southern India respectively, partly explained differences in their fertility levels, child mortality, and the gender differences in their child mortality rates. One manifestation of these cultural differences was differences in women’s status and autonomy. The author concludes that economic growth is "certainly one important way of achieving change in women’s status and in demographic behavior. But if one is seeking more immediate effects, the findings from this book suggest that economic growth needs some non-economic help."