Fertility and mortality among the scheduled caste Madigas of Andhra Pradesh, India
Reddy, K.Rajasekhara
Current Science 88(10): 1664-1668
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0011-3891 Document Number: 369606
About 1284 selected married women of both MDCDP (Madigas of Cuddapah district) and MDCTR (Madigas of Chittoor district) groups of Andhra Pradesh were studied for fertility and mortality demographic variables. Over 90% of the total conceptions in the pooled Madigas results in live births. A small proportion of prenatal deaths and high proportion of post-natal deaths were observed. The surviving offspring constitute 67.76% of the total conceptions. The mean number of conceptions in MDCTR (6.49) is more than that in MDCDP (6.13), the intergroup difference being insignificant. The fertility rate as measured by mean number of live births is more or less the same in both Madiga groups. The mean number of surviving offspring in MDCDP (3.96) is relatively lower than that in MDCTR (4.16), with non-significant difference. The mean number of total mortality found to be relatively lower in MDCDP (2.17) than in MDCTR (2.33), may be due to higher incidence of consanguinity in the latter group.