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. 2019 Sep 30;16(19):3679.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16193679.

How Does Economic Inequality Affect Infanticide Rates? An Analysis of 15 Years of Death Records and Representative Economic Data

Seong-Uk Baek  1 , Sung-Shil Lim  2 , Jihyun Kim  3 , Jin-Ha Yoon  4   5
Affiliations

How Does Economic Inequality Affect Infanticide Rates? An Analysis of 15 Years of Death Records and Representative Economic Data

Seong-Uk Baek et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Is there a relationship between economic inequality and infanticide rates? Few studies have examined the socioeconomic factors that trigger infanticide. This study aims to statistically analyze the effect of these factors on infanticide rates.

Methods: This study used infant death records in South Korea from 2003 to 2017 to assess the impact of unemployment rates and various statistical indicators (e.g., GDP and income inequality index) on the rate of infanticide. A generalized additive model and a quasi-Poisson regression were used for statistical analyses.

Results: A time-trend analysis shows that the infanticide rate tended to grow despite a decreasing trend in the quarterly infant mortality rate. A 1% increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a significant rise in the relative risk of infanticide after a lag of two quarters. Relative risks increased significantly three and four quarters after a 0.1 rise in the p80/p20 ratio (income inequality index).

Conclusions: Policymakers should pay attention to socioeconomic factors while formulating healthcare regulations to protect potential infanticide victims, including vulnerable infants and their parents.

Keywords: economic recession; inequality; infanticide; unemployment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Time trend of infanticide and quarterly infant mortality rate per 100,000 from 2003 to 2017. The points colored in gray indicate infant mortality rate by quarter and the white point indicate the infanticide rate by quarter.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time trend of socioeconomic variables from 2003 to 2017.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Time-lag effect of changes in socio-economic values on infanticide rate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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