From the data of the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey, aggregate deaths reported at ages 0-12 and 13-60 months are used to estimate infant and child mortality. Multivariate analysis shows that preceding birth interval length, followed by survival status of the immediately preceding child, are the most important factors associated with differential infant and child mortality risks; sex of the index child and mother's and father's education are also significant. Demographic factors are influential during infancy as well as childhood, but social factors, particularly mother's and father's education, now emerge as significant predictors of infant mortality risks. This indicates a change in the role of socioeconomic factors, since the earlier Bangladesh Fertility Survey in 1975.

Differentials in child survival in Bangladesh have been examined using a number of socioeconomic and environmental factors on data from the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey. Multivariate analysis reveals that both wife's and husband's education and household electricity show a significant positive association with child survival. The respondent's working status exerts a significant negative influence. Wife's education has a greater influence on child survival in Bangladesh than that of husband's education.

SummaryThe Nepal Fertility and Family Planning Survey of 1986 demonstrated that demographic variables, previous birth interval and survival of preceding child, still predominated as determinants of infant mortality, particularly in rural areas of Nepal. However, in urban Nepal, where the level of socioeconomic development is higher, an environmental variable, along with previous birth interval and survival of preceding child emerges as important in determining infant mortality. Separate policy measures for child survival prospects in rural and urban Nepal are suggested.

SummaryThe 1975–76 Bangladesh Fertility Survey data show little evidence that breast-feeding is the intermediate factor through which birth intervals influence child survival in Bangladesh. Preceding birth interval, subsequent pregnancy and breast-feeding duration each have an independent influence on early mortality risk. Within a specific interval the risk of dying decreases with increase in duration of breast-feeding, and also with an increase in the time between the index birth and the next pregnancy. The death of the immediately preceding child in infancy has a significant negative effect on the survival chance of the index child at ages 1–5 months. However, death of the preceding child appears to have a significantly positive effect on the survival chance of the index child between ages 9 months and 5 years; this may be related to competition between siblings.

Multivariate analysis of the effects of maternal age at birth, birth order and the preceding birth interval on mortality risks in early childhood, using data from the Bangladesh Fertility Survey, 1975-76, confirms that the length of the preceding birth interval is the most influential single factor. But the lower mortality risks among infants and children of educated mothers are due neither to the age at which childbearing was initiated nor to the spacing between births.