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Maternal education and child mortality: Evidence from developing countries

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  • Le, Kien
  • Nguyen, My

Abstract

This paper evaluates how maternal education affects child mortality in the context of 52 low- and middle-income countries. The sister fixed-effects model is employed, where we compare the child mortality outcome between biological sisters who attain different numbers of educational years. We find that an additional year of maternal education is linked with a 0.4 percentage point decrease in the likelihood of child mortality (a 4.3 % reduction relative to the sample mean). Additionally, the mechanism analysis reveals that improved women’s labor market outcome, increased access to information, assortative matching, and health input allocation are possible pathways to the link between maternal education and child mortality.

Suggested Citation

  • Le, Kien & Nguyen, My, 2024. "Maternal education and child mortality: Evidence from developing countries," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:110:y:2024:i:c:s0738059324001615
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2024.103135
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Maternal education; Child mortality; Developing countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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