Geographical Variation in Poverty and Child Malnutrition in India Praveen Kumar Pathak* and Abhishek Singh** +D=FJAH 14 Introduction Recently the issue of spatial distribution of poverty in India has emerged as a matter of urgent concern considering the growing evidence of wide regional variations within states. An important characteristic of these poverty trends has been changes in the spatial distribution of poverty as a consequence of economic reforms. Consequently, in case of large states, where poverty is not distributed evenly, there is a considerable interesting regional pattern of poverty (Deaton, 2003). Using data from the 55th, round of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), researchers have found wide regional variations in incidence of poverty among major states in India (Deaton and Dreze, 2002). For example, in rural Orissa, the poverty level (headcount rate) varies from 32 per cent in coastal region and 70 per cent in southern region of Orissa. Similarly, in rural Maharashtra, the poverty level (headcount rate) varies from 15 per cent in coastal region and 47 per cent in eastern inland region. Evidence across the globe has suggested that the country aggregates of different dimensions of poverty provide a useful overview of performance but they hide as much as they reveal (World Development Report, 2001). There are distinct dimensions of poverty within countries, and different groups within country can become better or worse-off. Poverty in different areas within a country can- and does-move in different directions. For instance, in Burkina Faso and Zambia, rural poverty fell and urban poverty rose, but the urban rise dominated and overall poverty rose (Demery, 1999). In Mexico, while overall poverty declined, there were large variations across regions within the country (Lustig, 2000). The social and demographic indicators in many countries remain much worse for the income-poor than for the income-non poor-often by huge margins. In South Africa the under-five mortality rate for the poorest 20 per cent is twice as high as the rate for the richest 20 per cent, and in Northeast and Southeast Brazil, three times as high. The picture is same for the malnutrition as well. A study of 19 *Junior Research Fellow (U.G.C.), International Institute for Population Sciences, G.S. Road, Deonar, Mumbai- 400088. E-mail: pkp_pathak@rediffmail.com **Lecturer, Department of Public Health and Mortality Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences, G.S. Road, Deonar, Mumbai-400088. E-mail: a_singh18@rediffmail.com