Religion and Sanitation Practices

Adukia, Anjali ; Alsan, Marcella ; Babiarz, Kim ; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D. ; Prince, Lea

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: SANITATION;    WATER AND SANITATION;    URBANIZATION;    RELIGION;    CULTURE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-9131
RP-ID  :  WPS9131

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Infant mortality among Hindus is higherthan among Muslims in India, and religious differences insanitation practices have been cited as a contributingfactor. To explore whether religion itself is associatedwith differences in sanitation practices, this studycompares sanitation practices of Hindus and Muslims livingin the same locations using three nationally-representativedata sets from India. Across all three data sets, theunconditional religion-specific gap in latrine ownership andlatrine use declines by approximately two-thirds whenconditioning on location characteristics or includinglocation fixed effects. Further, the estimates do not showevidence of religion-specific differences in othersanitation practices, such as handwashing or observed fecalmaterial near homes. Household sanitation practices varysubstantially across areas of India, but religion itself hasless direct influence when considering differences betweenHindus and Muslims within the same location.