DEMOGRAPHIC RESPONSES TO FAMINES IN SOUTH-ASIA

This article examines demographic responses to major famines in the Indian subcontinent, including the Bengal famine of 1943-44, the Bangladesh famine of 1974-75 and food crises in Bihar and Maharashtra. It argues that while a decline in conceptions (and, subsequently, births) is a prompt and virtually universal response to famine situations, the relationship of a rise in death rates to circumstances of famine is both much more complex and less certain. Increases in mortality due to famine - when they occur - are conditioned not just by food problems, but also by an array of factors such as current patterns of disease, migration, relief and rainfall. Knowledge about the normal prevailing seasonal distribution of mortality is especially helpful in anticipating when famine death rates may rise. Relatedly, information about malaria and rainfall regimes can also be particularly important. The article also addresses famine mortality differentials according to their patterns by age and sex. Study of neglected historical data sources under-scores the complexity and interrelated nature of the main elements - fertility, mortality and migration - of famine demography.