SEX DIFFERENTIALS IN MORTALITY EARLY IN THE 20TH-CENTURY - SRI-LANKA AND INDIA COMPARED

A number of researchers have noted more marked excess female mortality in north India than in south India. This has been attributed to socio-cultural differences between these areas, leading to women being less valued in the north. Since Sri Lanka shares cultural similarities with south India, including a relatively benign attitude toward women, it should on this basis also resemble south India with respect to sex differentials in mortality. However, evidence for the early twentieth century points to much higher excess female mortality in Sri Lanka than in south India, indeed more like the situation in north India. As their main explanation the authors suggest that hookworm disease and malaria were far more severe in Sri Lanka than in south India and that these diseases affected women more than men.