Childhood Immunization, Mortality and Human Capital Accumulation: Micro-Evidence from India

Santosh Kumar, University of Washington

In the mid-1980s, the Indian government embarked on one of the largest childhood immunization programs-called Universal Immunization Program" (UIP)-in order to reduce the high mortality and morbidity among children. I examine the effect of this immunization program on child mortality and educational attainment by exploiting district-by-cohort variation in exposure to the program. Results indicate that exposure to the program reduced infant mortality by 0.4 percentage points and under-five mortality by 0.5 percentage points. These effects on mortality are sizable-they account for approximately one-fifth of the decline in infant and under-five child mortality rates between 1985-1990. The effects are more pronounced in rural areas, for poor people, and for members of historically disadvantaged groups.