Open Defecation is generally a product of poor socioeconomic indicators, however this is not the case for South Asia. As one 2018 study¹ put it, “Open defecation rates vary widely across the countries of South Asia, but the differences present a puzzle that is not solved by standard indicators of development.”
Interestingly, one factor in this region that traditionally does seem to correlate with Open Defecation, is the percentage of Hindus in a given area. As Vyas and Spears note², “After controlling for important covariates, both Hindus and non-Hindus are less likely to defecate in the open if they live in primary sampling units (PSUs), or villages, with a higher fraction of non-Hindus, and are more likely to defecate in the open if they live in PSUs with a higher fraction of Hindus. Not only are non-Hindus themselves more likely to use a latrine, but the greater prevalence of non-Hindus within a community is associated with less open defecation among households of all religions.”
A 2017 study³ noticed a similar trend, observing that, “in rural India, the open defecation is lower among Muslim households — both in rich and poor economic status households than Hindu households.”
A 2014 paper⁴ found that, “Muslims are about 40 percent more likely than Hindus to use pit latrines or toilets, which serve to safely dispose of excreta.”
As depicted above, the 2013–2014 SQUAT survey by India tabulated the shockingly high levels of Open Defecation among Hindus relative to Muslims. One of the more bizarre findings is that 1 in 4 Hindus opt to defecate openly despite having a personal latrine. This trend is also noted in the 2018 follow-up study⁵ portrayed below.
Noting the dramatic gap between Hindu and Muslim latrine use at smaller volume facilities, authors noted⁶ that, “across the distribution, Hindus in latrine-owning households are more likely to defecate in the open than Muslims in latrine-owning households…open defecation is much less common in households with larger latrine pits, especially among Hindu households. One reason for this pattern is that smaller pits are perceived to require frequent emptying, an activity which is associated with caste impurity. Large pits, in contrast, do not require emptying as frequently, and therefore their use does not invoke the same worries about contact with faeces or hiring a manual scavenger.”
As seen above, using ancient Hindu theological precepts to explain the relative propensity of modern Hindus to Openly Defecate isn’t uncommon. Its unclear how truly explanatory this model is, but certainly, material is available for its proponents.
This bizarre phenomenon has been used to explain another oddity, specifically, that despite being socioeconomically privileged relative to Muslims, Hindus in India fair worse in terms of child mortality. As Geruso and Spears note⁷, “In India, Muslim children are substantially more likely than Hindu children to survive to their fifth birthday, despite Muslim parents being poorer and less educated on average than Hindu parents.”
After controlling for multiple variables, their analysis found that⁸, “open defecation alone can fully statistically explain the paradoxical Muslim mortality advantage, if both private and external benefits of sanitation are taken into account.” Like above studies, the authors also found that the superior hygiene practices of Muslims were protective; Hindus living in primarily Muslim areas enjoyed the resulting improvement in child mortality.
Gandhi expressed⁹ dissatisfaction with the Open Defecation among Hindus during the British period, exclaiming, “Our lavatories bring our civilization into discredit. They violate the rules of hygiene.” The Indian government has grown increasingly sensitive to the issue as criticism mounted, and in 2014 initiated the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) to eradicate Open Defecation by 2019. Early returns are promising, though there are concerns¹⁰ that indigenous Adivasi tribes and low-caste Dalits are being coerced by officials to comply with SBM.
Regardless, its quite possible for Hindus to leave Open Defecation behind. Nepal, their Hindu-majority neighbor to the north, is an excellent example. Several years ago they were also in an Open-Defecation quagmire, but stringent reforms have brought it closer in line with the Muslim and Buddhist nations of South Asia.
Sources:
(1) “Sanitation and Religion in South Asia: What Accounts for Differences across Countries”, Vyas and Spears, 2018
(2) “…”, Vyas and Spears, 2018
(3) “Change in Household Environment Condition in India: Evidence From
Panel Data”, Brahmanandam and Nagarajan, 2021
(4) “Sanitation and health externalities: Resolving the Muslim mortality paradox”, Geruso and Spears, 2014
(5) “Changes in open defecation in rural north India: 2014–2018”, Gupta and Khalid, 2019
(6) “…”, Gupta and Khalid, 2019
(7) “…”, Geruso and Spears, 2014
(8) “…”, Geruso and Spears, 2014
(9) “…”, Geruso and Spears, 2014
(10) “…”, Gupta and Khalid, 2019
