Socioeconomic correlates of mortality in Pakistan

This paper disc;usses socioeconomic mortality differentials in Pakistan on the basis of data collected in 1979 from a nationally representative sample of over lO,OOO households in a survey carried out for the Population, Labour Force and Migration (PLM) project of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics/International Labour Organization. In addition to the questionnaire on fertility, three questionnaires - Income and Expenditure, Labour Force, and Migration - were administered to each household. This data-set not only affords a comparison with PFS 1975 but also permits a study of the relation between income, land holding, tenurial status, and the mortality experience of households. The mortality data obtained from the PLM survey are discussed briefly in the first section of the paper; Mortality differentials by characteristics of the child, mother, household and village are discussed in the second section. Wherever possible, the findings of the PLM 1979 survey are compared with those of PFS 1975.