Changing Determinants of Infant and Child Mortality: On the Basis of the Korean Experience, 1955–73

Abstract

SummaryFrom analysis of the 1974 Korean National Fertility Survey data, the changing patterns of demographic and socioeconomic determinants of infant and child mortality are generalized. The pattern for infant mortality is: (1) in a traditional society demographic factors affect infant mortality more than socioeconomic factors; (2) at the early stage of development, demographic factors are replaced by socioeconomic factors as the main determinants; (3) when the difference in living standards between social classes narrows, the socioeconomic differentials in mortality also diminish; and (4) at the stage of high development the effects of demographic factors remain although the absolute differences are very small. But the pattern of changing determinants of child mortality is nearly the reverse of that of infant mortality.