Table 1. Operational definition and categorization of variables used in the study.

Variables	Description
Community variables
Accessibility by an all-weather road	Whether the village is accessible by an all-weather road – No (0), Yes (1)
Distance to the nearest private health facility	Distance to any private health facilities (private hospital or private clinic) to the village – Within 1 km (0) = within village or within 1 km; 1–5 km (1); More than 5 km (2).
Distance to the nearest public health facility	Distance to any public health facilities (CHC or PHC or Block PHC or PHC or Government hospital) to the village – Within 1 km (0) = within village or within 1 km; 1–5 km (1); More than 5 km (2).
ANM/ASHA available in the village	ANM (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife)/ASHA (Accredited Social Health Worker) resides in or visits the village – No (0), Yes (1).
Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) implemented	Whether JSY has been implemented in the village – No (0), Yes (1).
Proportion of mothers with ‘above secondary’ education	The proportion of mothers with ‘above secondary’ education in the village.
Proportion of rich households	The proportion of rich households in the villages. It is constructed by combining two upper quintiles of the Household Wealth Index already available in the dataset.
Region	A region in this study is a group of Indian states. North region (1) includes Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh (Union Territory - UT) and Delhi; Central region (2) includes the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh; East region (3) includes the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa; North-East region (4) includes the states of Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh; West region (5) includes the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and UTs of Dadara & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu; South region (6) includes the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry and Lakshadweep)
Socioeconomic variables
Mother’s education	Mother’s education is defined based on years of schooling and divided into four categories – Illiterate (0) = 0 years of schooling; Primary (1) = 1–5 years of schooling; Secondary (2) = 6–10 years of schooling; Above secondary (3) = more than 10 years of schooling.
Father’s education	Father’s education is defined based on years of schooling and divided into four categories – Illiterate (0) = 0 years of schooling, Primary (1) = 1–5 years of schooling; Secondary (2) = 6–10 years of schooling; Above secondary (3) = more than 10 years of schooling.
Asset index	The asset index is constructed using principal component analysis and divided into three categories – Poor (0); Middle (1); Rich (2).
Religion	Religion is divided into three categories – Hindu (0); Muslim (1); Others (3) = all religious groups other than Hindu and Muslim.
Caste/Tribe	Caste/Tribe is divided into four categories – Scheduled Castes – SC (0); Scheduled Tribes – ST (1); Other Backward Castes – OBC (2); General (3).
Employment of the mother	Mother is said to be employed if a mother was engaged in any economic activity in last 12 months preceding survey. It has been divided into three categories – Agriculture worker, farmer, and labourer (0); Unemployed (1); Professional/service/production workers (2).
Improved source of water	Whether the household has access to piped water within the premises of the house – No (0); Yes (1).
Improved toilet facility	Whether the household has access to improved toilet facility – No (0); Yes (1).
House type	Type of house – Kaccha (0) = wall, floors, and roofs are kaccha; Pucca (1) = walls, floors, and roofs are pucca.
Electricity	Whether the household has an electricity connection – No (0); Yes (1).
Proximate Determinants
Mother’s age at birth	Maternal age at birth is divided into four categories – <20 years (0); 20–24 years (1); 25–29 years (2); ≥ 30 years (3).
Sex of the child	Sex of the child – Girl (0); Boy (1).
Tetanus toxoid (TT) Injection	Number of TT injection taken during pregnancy – One (0); Zero (1); Two or more (2).
Iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets/syrup	Consumption of adequate IFA tablets/syrup during pregnancy – No (0); Yes (1).
Birth order	The order in which the child was born – First order (0); Second order (1); Third order (2); Four and above (3).
Delivery complications	Whether mother faced any complication/s during delivery – No (0); Yes (1).
Place of delivery and skilled birth attendance (SBA)	A variable is computed with combination of place of delivery and assistance during delivery by any health personnel. This is divided into three categories – Home (0); Home + SBA (1) = home delivery assisted by any trained health personnel; Health facility (2).
Antenatal Care (ANC) visits	This variable is computed using two variables, the frequency and the timing of ANC visits. This is divided into four categories – No visit (0) = no ANC visit; First trimester + ≥ 4 visits (1) = Four or more visits in first trimester; First trimester + < 4 visits (2) = less than four visits in first trimester; ANC visits made in second and third trimester (3).

Notes.

Categories in italics have been used as reference category in the regression models.