A Case Study: Natural Clustering Among Indian States

Abstract

India with a population of 1.34 billion stands as the second populous country in the world. In India about 51 births takes place in a minute. Child health plays a vital role in the development of a country. Health of the population significantly affects both social development and economic progress. Given the relevance of health for human well-being and social welfare, it is important to ensure equitable access to health care services by identifying priority areas and ensuring improvements in quality of healthcare services. Recent studies had reflected that the neighbourhood plays a crucial role in the health status. Socio- economic status of the neighbourhood has linked with the mortality, general health status, disability, birth-rate, chronic condition, health behavior and other risk factors for chronic disease, as well as mental health, injuries, violence’s and other indicators of health [4]. This study aims to determine whether on the basis of maternal and children health status, there could be any natural clustering among the different districts of India. K mean clustering was used to find the number of clusters among Indian states. According to the majority rule, 2 would be the best number of clusters in the data set. In fact, 10 among 27 indices select 2 as the optimal number of cluster. Hence, the majority rule seems to be a more reliable solution for selecting the best number of clusters. Hence the different districts are grouped together to form two natural clusters. This implies that the health status of children in these district are interdependent. Not only the factors within one district are responsible for the health status of the children, there is also a great influence from the neighbouring districts. In order to mould a better future generation, the focuses should be made in the entire country.