Predictive modeling and risk factors of under-five child mortality in India using NFHS-5 dataset: a parity-based analysis

Authors

  • Neha Bhardwaj Department of Statistics, Institute of Social Sciences, DBRAU, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India; Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, New Delhi, India
  • Vineeta Singh Department of Statistics, Institute of Social Sciences, DBRAU, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Rakesh Kumar Rana Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, New Delhi, India
  • Arunabh Tripathi Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, New Delhi, India
  • Komal Jha Department of Statistics, Institute of Social Sciences, DBRAU, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20260688

Keywords:

Child mortality, Binomial, Beta-binomial, Poisson, Logistic regression models, NFHS data

Abstract

Background: Child mortality is one of the important public health issues in developing countries like India. Many previous studies found that there are several risk factors affecting child mortality namely; Socio-economic factors, Bio-demographic factors, etc. Therefore, in the present study, various variables associated with these factors were explored in relation to under-five child mortality. Additionally, three different models were compared to assess their suitability for estimating child mortality across different parity levels of women. This approach was adopted with the objective of framing more effective strategies to reduce child mortality rates in India.

Methods: For our purpose, binary logistic regression model was performed to describe the significant risk factors of mortality among under-five children. For finding a best predictive model, three different models are formulated and model fitting was observed by the method of MSE. First model was binomial distribution, second was beta-binomial distribution and third was poisson distribution model.

Results: The logistic regression result reveals that the factors like maternal health, education, and socio-economic conditions, rural areas, significantly influence child mortality and the method of comparison on the three different models describes that the beta-binomial distribution model shows the better fit on the data. The estimated values of probability of child deaths at higher parities; parity 3, parity 4, and parity 5, were obtained as 0.153, 0.279, 0.123, respectively.

Conclusions: According to this study we found that, child mortality is still a significant issue in India. Therefore, progress on socio economic, bio-demographic and environmental risk factors should be the focus of policymaker’s intervention.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

World Health Organization. Child mortality and causes of death", 2019. Available at: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/topic-details/GHO/child-mortality-and-causes-of-death. Accessed 26 November 2019.

UNICEF. UNICEF – Definitions, 2019. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/reports/levels-and-trends-child-mortality-report-2019. Accessed on 1 December 2025.

Abdelghffar FA, Saad Akram M, Aoami Al, Ambrka Al, Jamila DO. Determinants of Under-Five Mortality (U5MR) in Al-Bayda city by using the logistics regression model. Human J Int J Sci Res Methodol. 2022;20:242-57.

Jayathilaka R, Adikari H, Liyanage R, Udalagama R, Wanigarathna N. Cherish your children: socio-economic and demographic characteristics associated with child mortality. BMC Publ Heal. 2021;21(1):1217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11276-9

Kumar SG, Majumdar A, Kumar V, Naik BN, Selvaraj K, Balajee K. Prevalence of acute respiratory infection among under-five children in urban and rural areas of puducherry, India. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2015;6(1):3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0976-9668.149069

Mukherjee A, Bhattacherjee S, Dasgupta S. Determinants of infant mortality in rural India: An ecological study. Ind J Publ Heal. 2019;63(1):27-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijph.IJPH_59_18

Alemayehu YK, Theall K, Lemma W, Hajito KW, Tushune K. The role of empowerment in the association between a woman’s educational status and infant mortality in Ethiopia: Secondary analysis of demographic and health surveys. Ethio J Heal Sci. 2015;25(4):353-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/ejhs.v25i4.9

Patel N, Olickal JJ. Maternal and child factors of under-five mortality in India. Findings from NFHS-4. Clin Epidemiol Glob Heal. 2021;12:100866. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100866

Paul P, Saha R. Is maternal autonomy associated with child nutritional status? Evidence from a cross-sectional study in India. PLoS One. 2022;17(5):e0268126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268126

Shahraki M, Agheli L, Arani AA, Sadeghi H. The effect of mothers’ education and employment on children’s health. Jentashap J Heal Res. 2016;7(4):e30977. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17795/jjhr-30977

Wu H. The effect of maternal education on child mortality in Bangladesh. Populat Developm Revi. 2022;48(2):475-503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12467

Moradhvaj M, Yildiz D, KC S. The Role of Maternal Education in Reducing Excess Deaths among Girls in India. 2023:1-31.

Tripathi A, Singh G, Singh A. Model for Assessment of child mortality under different parity: a Bayesian Swatch. J Biosci Medi. 2019;7:113-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/jbm.2019.75014

Maheshwari S, Singh BP, Gupta PK. A new probability model for estimation of child mortality for fixed parity. Int J Heal. 2015;3(2015):34-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14419/ijh.v3i2.5033

Singh BP, Dixit S, Maurya DK. Some probability models for age at infant death and estimation procedure. Demography India. 2022;51(2):25-44.

Tessema NS, Geda NR. Trends in maternal education-based inequalities in under-five mortality in Ethiopia: multilevel, decomposition and concentration index analyses. Discov Soci Sci Heal. 2024;4(1):59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44155-024-00122-z

Kiross GT, Chojenta C, Barker D, Tiruye TY, Loxton D. The effect of maternal education on infant mortality in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one. 2019;14(7):e0220076. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220076

Samir KC. Differential impact of maternal education on under-five mortality in rural and urban India. Health & Place. 2023;80:102987. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.102987

Uddin MF, Mim SA, Haque MA, Tariquajjaman M, Jabeen I, Latif MB, et al. Sociodemographic and maternal health-related factors associated with mortality among children under three in Bangladesh: an analysis of data from Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2017-18. BMC Publ Heal. 2024;24(1):3324. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20426-8

Naz S, Page A, Agho KE. Household air pollution and under-five mortality in India (1992-2006). Environment Heal. 2016;15(1):54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-016-0138-8

Kc A, Halme S, Gurung R, Basnet O, Olsson E, Malmqvist E. Association between usage of household cooking fuel and congenital birth defects-18 months multi-centric cohort study in Nepal. Arch Publ Heal. 2023;81(1):144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01169-1

Luo M, Liu T, Ma C, Fang J, Zhao Z, Wen Y, et al. Household polluting cooking fuels and adverse birth outcomes: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Fronti Publ Heal. 2023;11:978556. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.978556

Ahinkorah BO. Maternal age at first childbirth and under-five morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa: analysis of cross-sectional data of 32 countries. Arch Publ Heal. 2021;79(1):151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00674-5

Noori N, Proctor JL, Efevbera Y, Oron AP. The effect of adolescent pregnancy on child mortality in 46 low-and middle-income countries. BMJ Glob Heal. 2022;7(5). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007681

Sinha S, Aggarwal AR, Osmond C, Fall CH, Bhargava SK, Sachdev HS. Maternal age at childbirth and perinatal and under-five mortality in a prospective birth cohort from Delhi. Ind Pediatr. 2016;53(10):871-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-016-0950-9

Downloads

Published

2026-02-27

How to Cite

Bhardwaj, N., Singh, V., Rana, R. K., Tripathi, A., & Jha, K. (2026). Predictive modeling and risk factors of under-five child mortality in India using NFHS-5 dataset: a parity-based analysis. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 13(3), 1325–1332. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20260688

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles