A comparative analysis of reproductive measures and predictor variables among three tribes of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract

An attempt has been made to understand the reproductive behaviour of the Gond (146), Birhor (151) and Kawar (78) tribes of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. The study focuses on the role of socioeconomic and cultural factors responsible for the variation and continuum in woman’s fertility and from live births to child mortality. It involves a mixed-method approach to assess the measures of fertility and mortality by using the standard formula after Barclay (1958) and Bogue (1969). Despite the child–woman ratio being high among Kawar (1857.14) followed by Birhor (833.33) and Gond (766.66), it is observed that the total fertility rate is high among Birhor (11.8) followed by Gond (9.8) and Kawar (8.5) indicating women experiencing a greater number of live births, especially among Birhor. Further, the mortality rates indicate that neonatal deaths (93.75) among the Kawar tribe, and under five mortality (148.14) among Birhor are high. This can be attributed to the influence of socioeconomic and cultural factors. It reveals that fertility is high among the study population(s) to substantiate the prenatal and postnatal loss.

Keywords

• Fertility
• mortality
• socioeconomic
• cultural factors