Social development and infant mortality, 1977-1986, Cuba: a regional analysis

Abstract

In Cuba, the infant mortality rate (IMR) dropped by 65% between 1970 and 1986. The 1986 IMR - 13.6%o- has put the contry in the lead in Latin American mother and child health care. However, the behavior of the IMR is not homogeneous throughout the country. This paper seeks to identify by multiple regression techniques, those sociodemographic or healh care factors which have determined the decline in the IMR and those variables which best explain the inter-regional differences in this indicator. Sociodemographic factors fundamentally explain the evolution of the IMR in Cuba; on the other hand, although in the first instance the proportion of live births of low weight and the crude birth rate explain the inter-regional differences in IMR levels every year, it can be seen that other socioeconomic variables really lie behind these differences.