A Study on Interregional Determinants of Infant Mortality Rate in Turkey with Spatial Econometric Analysis

Social and economic factors, education, health literacy, health-related behavior, and many other factors are shown at the beginning of the underlying causes of infant deaths. This study it is aimed to investigate the relationship between the causes of infant mortality and socioeconomic indicators in Turkey. Therefore, using 26 Regions (NUTS2) following the classification of statistical regional units, spatial econometric approaches were employed to demonstrate if a socioeconomic disadvantage accumulation exists in Turkey. In the study, the socioeconomic indicators that affect infant mortality are the number of women who gave birth under the age of 15, income inequality coefficient (Gini index), labor force participation rate of women by age groups (15 years and above, Total/Female), the total number of hospital beds per hundred thousand people, number of primary school graduate women, and number of high schools or equivalent graduate woman. TurkStat was utilized to collect all of the study's data. The experiments show that newborn mortality is increased by the Gini coefficient, the number of women who completed primary school, and the number of women who gave birth before the age of 15, but infant mortality is decreased by higher education levels. In addition, it is found that an increase in the percentage of women over the age of 15 participating in the workforce and the number of beds per hundred thousand people in the hospital causes a decrease in infant mortality. Therefore, investigating the relationship between infant mortality causes and socioeconomic indicators can provide essential clues about public health policy design. Thus, it can assist in taking policy measures by making inferences for the country, region, or community studied.