Citation

Xu B, Rimpelä AH, Järvelin MR, Nieminen M. Scand. J. Soc. Med. 1994; 22(4): 242-248.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health and General Practice, University of Oulu, Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Scandinavian University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7716434

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to study the sex differences in infant mortality and mortality before the age of 5 in China, and the differences between urban and rural areas on the one hand and urban areas of mainland China and Hong Kong on the other. Published data from the 1982 and 1990 national censuses, the mortality survey of 1976, and UN's publications were used to calculate sex differences and sex ratios of mortality. Infant mortality of both sexes decreased notably from the 1970's onwards, the sex ratios of mortality being 1.15 in 1973-75, 1.06 in 1981 and 0.86 in 1990. A remarkable decline of mortality before the age of 5 was also seen in both sexes, but the sex ratios of mortality were not greatly altered, remaining less than 1 from the 1970's on. In rural areas female infants and young children had a higher mortality compared with males than in urban areas. In Hong Kong, the sex differences of infant and early child mortality were much smaller than in urban areas of mainland China.Researchers analyzed data from the 1982 and 1990 Population Censuses of the People's Republic of China, the China's 1976 Epidemiology Survey, and the World Health Statistics Annual series to examine sex differences in infant and early childhood mortality in China. In 1990, infant mortality for females countrywide was higher than that of males (33.71/1000 vs. 29/1000; male/female sex ratio = 0.86). Excess infant mortality among females was greater in rural areas than in urban areas (difference, -5.66 vs. -1.04; sex ratio = 0.85 vs. 0.95). Excess mortality occurred in females in rural areas in all but the 4-year-old age group (sex ratios = -0.49 for 1 year, -0.41 for 2 years, -0.02 for 3 years), while it was limited to the infant and 1-year-old age groups in urban areas (-1.04 and -0.1, respectively). Between 1973-1975 and 1990, infant mortality rates among males fell more than those among females (43.1% vs. 24% decrease), resulting in a decline in the sex ratio (1.15 in 1973-1975, 1.06 in 1981, and 0.86 in 1990). Unreliable data, female infanticide and abandonment, and unequal treatment of male and female infants likely accounted for the decreasing sex ratio. Early childhood mortality rates fell equally for both sexes (74.62% for males and 73.28% for females). The infant and early childhood mortality rates for males and females in urban areas of China in 1990 were almost 4 and 5.5 times, respectively, greater than those in Hong Kong. The sex ratios for mortality were lower than those in Hong Kong (0.86 vs. 1.19 and 1.04 vs. 1.43, respectively), suggesting that female infants and young girls in urban areas of China were at greater risk of dying than those in Hong Kong. These findings show that, even though infant and early childhood mortality in China has fallen markedly since 1973-1975, the decrease has been greater for males than for females.

Language: en