Limited use of healthcare facilities by rural mothers is one of the important reasons for high rates
of infant and child mortality in Bangladesh. Many researches established that various factors
including community characteristics influence child mortality. This paper first estimates life table
probability of dying by using Somoza’s method and then investigates the influence of community
factors on the change of child mortality in rural Bangladesh. The data for the study were derived
from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2004. The analysis shows that modern
transport, distance of maternal and child welfare centres, and availability of MBBS doctor are
important correlates of child mortality in rural Bangladesh. Besides availability of facilities in the
community such as electricity, sanitation and access to mass media have also strong influence on
child mortality. Logistic regression analysis shows that community characteristics play a
significant role in the reduction of child mortality in rural areas of Bangladesh.