Spatial Analysis of Structural Determinants of Child Poverty Incidence in Nigeria

Despite goal four of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets set by the United Nations for the nations of the world to reduce child mortality to its half by 2015, Nigerian children are still greatly affected by the incidence of poverty. We focus on the social attributes of the local area to assess what the geographic place represents. Using spatial error regression techniques to analyze Geopolitical Zone census data from Demographic Health Survey and National Living Standard Survey, we examined spatial differentiation in the relationships that generate child poverty and further explore their determining factors. Child poverty was found to be more prominent in the Northern region of the country. However, results from the analysis also established that there is a spillover of child poverty existed among the GPZs. While social and economic factors that influence the probability of child poverty varied across difference Geopolitical Zones (GPZs). Poverty incidence in a GPZ influenced the neighboring GPZ. Results also showed that local-area processes are at play with implications for more nuanced theoretical models and anti-child poverty policies that consider systematic differences in factors contributing to child poverty according to the social, infrastructural, agro ecological and economic contexts.