Using three rounds of India's National Family Health Survey, the authors estimated the probability of death between ages 15 and 59 by caste, religion and wealth quintile, and fitted Cox models adjusting for economic position and region. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe adults had consistently higher mortality than upper-caste Hindus in both sexes, though the gap narrowed once wealth and region were controlled. The wealth gradient was unchanged across rounds: mortality risk was roughly 60% lower for men and 40% lower for women in the richest versus poorest households.
Why it is interesting: Shows a wealth gradient in working-age mortality that has not moved in over twenty years, in a country with no usable death registration for this purpose.