Published Paper Details:

India contributes to one-fifth of global live births and more than a quarter of neonatal deaths. Nearly, 0.75 million neonates died in India in 2013, the highest for any country in the world. The current Neonatal Mortality Rate is 28 per 1000 live births. Given the infant and under-five child mortality rates of 40 and 49 per 1000 live births respectively, 70% of total infant deaths, and more than half of under-five deaths fall in the neonatal period. Indeed, with the early NMR of 22 per 1000 live births, deaths in the first week alone account for 45% of total under-five deaths.The rapid human development of the past decades is reflected in a steep fall in infant mortality. In 1960, 12% of babies worldwide died in their first year of life compared to only 3% in 2015.1 Over three-fifths of the infant deaths that still occur are neonatal deaths, meaning deaths in the first month of life. Although progress in reducing both neonatal and infant deaths has been rapid, it has also been uneven. Twenty-seven percent of neonatal deaths now occur in India. India has a large population, but its share of neonatal mortality is disproportionately large: it is home to 19% of worldwide births. To explain India�s unique later-born NNM advantage, we document these facts about maternal underweight for India, and show that they differ compared with the rest of the developing world.