Some Facts about Boy versus Girl Health Indicators in India: 1992-2005

Despite fast rates of economic growth, poor nutritional status and high mortality rates persist among Indian children. We use data from three waves of the Indian National Family and Health Survey to examine gender-specific trends in key indicators of child health between 1992-1993 and 2005-2006. We find that the most recent changes in indices of nutritional status have been overall similar between genders, reverting a movement toward male advantage observed in the 1990s. However, we also document that improvements in different mortality indices during the period were relatively larger for boys. (JEL codes: l15, J16, O12).