Unveiling Injustice: Analyzing Child Mortality Inequality across decades in Peru (1981-2017)

Peru is a
developing country that has significantly improved the average of almost all
health indicators. Specifically, in the past four decades, child mortality decreased
tenfold. However, the same is not necessarily true of equality, which remains a
challenge. Using microdata from population censuses of Peru in 1981, 1993,
2007, and 2017, we estimate the inequality in child mortality between different
social groups. We estimate differences between ethnic groups, education levels,
wealth quintiles, regions, and urban-rural groups and find that although inequality
has decreased, it remains significantly high. The data show that inequality in
child mortality rose between 1981 and 1993 and declined during 1993-2007 and
2007-2017. Differences in education are largely the most crucial factor,
explaining 45% of the inequality in 1981 and 58% in 2017. Differences between
Lima and rural areas explain 27% to 30%, while ethnicity explained only 6% of
inequality in 1981 and 10% in 2017.