Education Matters More Than Income to Reduce Premature Adult Mortality in India

Moradhvaj Dhakad joined the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in November 2025. During his time at IIASA, he collaborated with Erich Striessnig, Nandita Saikia, Samir K.C. and Wolfgang Lutz to explore why mortality among working-age adults remains high in India despite rapid economic growth. They found that education, at both the individual and community levels, was more strongly associated with lower premature mortality than income or household wealth.