| Abstract: | Infant mortality trends are projected for Goa and Kerala states in India for the year 2000. The impact of the net domestic product, the population per doctor, and literacy on infant mortality are assessed. Data are obtained from the Indian Yearbooks for 1990-91. The Gompertz curve was used to project the infant mortality rate per 1000 live births to the year 2000. Infant mortality in the year 2000 was estimated to be 17.02 in Goa and 20.22 in Kerala. A highly significant correlation was found between the infant mortality rate and literacy and the net domestic product in Goa. In Kerala only literacy was statistically significantly related to infant mortality. The population per doctor was found to be significantly positively related to the infant mortality rate in both Goa and Kerala. 82.96% of infant mortality in Goa was explained by the three factors. 79.33% of infant mortality in Kerala was explained by these same factors. The view is taken that program effort should be directed to improving literacy, economic conditions, and medical doctor coverage as a means of reducing infant mortality. |
