Table 1 Characteristics of children born during the four years and five years preceding the survey in states^b with high and medium/low levels of post neonatal mortality, NFHS-1 and NFHS-3 respectively

Sex of the child

Male

51.3

50.8

51.1

51.8

52.6

52.1

Female

48.7

49.2

48.9

48.2

47.4

47.9

Size at birth

Large/average

77.7

77.1

77.4

76.8

77.5

77.1

Small

20.3

22.2

21.1

23.2

22.5

22.9

Not available

2.1

0.7

1.4

Mother’s age at birth

Less than 20 years

20.8

26.5

23.3

19.4

22.0

20.5

20 - 34 years

72.2

70.5

71.4

75.1

75.7

75.3

35 years or more

7.0

3.0

5.2

5.5

2.2

4.2

Birth order

1

24.4

31.8

27.7

25.7

37.4

30.4

2 -- 3

38.3

45.7

41.6

39.9

49.6

43.8

4 or more

37.2

22.6

30.7

34.4

13.1

25.8

Interval since last birth

First birth/preceding birth interval 2 years or more

81.3

82.2

81.7

72.5

74.1

73.1

Preceding birth interval less than 2 years

18.7

17.8

18.3

27.5

25.9

26.9

Antenatal & natal care

Yes

42.7

81.7

59.9

61.3

86.8

71.6

No

57.3

18.3

40.1

38.7

13.2

28.4

Residence

Urban

16.2

31.1

22.7

18.2

36.0

25.4

Rural

83.9

68.9

77.3

81.8

64.0

74.6

Mother’s education

Illiterate

76.9

53.8

66.7

61.9

31.6

49.7

Literate, < middle school complete

11.5

22.6

16.4

17.3

27.9

21.6

Middle school complete & above

11.6

23.6

16.9

20.8

40.5

28.7

Mother’s occupation

Non gainful occupation

89.5

77.7

84.3

62.2

67.8

64.4

Working for someone else

8.4

19.6

13.3

37.8

32.2

35.6

Self employed

2.2

2.6

2.4

Caste

Scheduled caste (SC)

10.8

6.7

9.0

21.6

21.0

21.4

Scheduled tribe (ST)

14.7

12.0

13.5

10.1

8.1

9.3

Other than SC/ST

74.5

81.3

77.5

68.3

70.9

69.3

Standard of living index

Low

41.0

38.5

39.9

35.0

22.8

30.1

Medium

46.8

45.9

46.4

32.2

30.4

31.5

High

9.7

14.1

11.7

22.7

37.5

28.7

Not available

2.4

1.5

2.0

10.1

9,3

9.7