ABSTRACT
Background: Fertility is the physiological ability to have children or to produce offspring whereas; mortality means death of any member of the population. In demographic study which is basically the study of any population, fertility rate and mortality rate are considered to be important determinants alongside migration which is the settlement pattern of people from one place of origin to another. Objectives: The objective of the present cross-sectional investigation is to analyze the association of socio- economic factors with fertility and mortality among the Lepcha tribal population of North Sikkim, India. Methods: For the present investigation, data was collected from 110 married women aged 18- 60 years from different villages of Dzongu, North Sikkim. Data on fertility and mortality information were obtained from each married woman along with their spouses. Results: The mean age at marriage and age at first child birth were observed to be higher and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Live births and surviving children with respect to education of women is statistically significant, with values for live births (F= 5.088, p<0.01) and surviving children (F=4.040, p<0.05). The number of mothers with infant mortality was observed to be higher in the low-income group (1.29±0.18). Results indicated that 81% from the low-income group have not opted for family planning, but 44.4 % have reported the use of contraceptive methods. Conclusion: The study indicates that socio-economic, socio-cultural and biological factors have an impact on fertility and mortality and has led to its decrease among the Lepcha tribal population of North Sikkim.