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Being Born Out-of-Wedlock: Does it affect a Child’s Survival Chance? An Empirical Investigation for Senegal

Author

Listed:
  • Nathalie Guilbert

    (PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine, LEDa, UMR DIAL, IRD)

  • Karine Marazyan

    (Université Paris 1 - IEDES- IRD UMR 201 Développement et Sociétés)

Abstract

(english) In this paper, we are interested in the effect of birth status, being born out-of-wedlock or in wedlock, on survival chance before two years old of siblings of same gender in Senegal. The analysis is based on nationally representative data, those from the Demographic and health survey, collected in the country in 2010-2011. Data from the youngest cohort of mothers are exploited. On average, no significant effect is found. This masks significant variations between sub-groups of children. However, contrary to initial expectations, children born out-of-wedlock have similar mortality rate than their siblings born in wedlock, at worst. In some case, their mortality rate is lower. This suggests that resource-based mechanisms exist in Senegal that helps mothers, with an out-of-wedlock birth, to compensate and sometime over-compensate for lack of resource or for fragility. These mechanisms seem to vary between areas and ethnic groups depending on the gender of the child born out-ofwedlock. The only group of children with a higher risk of death is the group of girls born out-ofwedlock, whose mother was adolescent when giving birth to them, belonging to the Serere ethnic group. Informal, private compensatory mechanism does not seem to take place in this specific case. _________________________________ (français) Cet article s'intéresse aux conséquences du statut à la naissance, être né dans le cadre d'une union maritale ou non, sur les chances de survie au cours des deux premières années de vie d'enfants de même sexe et issus d'une même fratrie au Sénégal. L'analyse est réalisée à partir des données des enquêtes démographiques et de santé collectées dans le pays en 2010-2011 et représentatives au niveau national. L'échantillon utilisé pour l'analyse est celui des mères appartenant aux plus jeunes cohortes. En moyenne, nous n'observons pas d'impact significatif d'être né hors mariage sur la mortalité des enfants relativement à leurs frères et soeurs de même sexe nés dans le cadre d'un mariage. Cependant, ce résultat masque des différences importantes parmi plusieurs sous-groupes d'enfants. Contrairement aux attentes initiales, les enfants nés hors mariage ont des taux de mortalité similaires à leurs frères et soeurs nés dans le cadre d'un mariage et, dans certains cas, ils présentent même des taux de mortalité plus faibles. Ces résultats suggèrent l'existence de mécanismes de solidarité au Sénégal qui aident les mères ayant eu une naissance hors mariage à compenser et parfois même surcompenser un manque de ressources ou une plus forte vulnérabilité. Ces mécanismes semblent varier par zones géographiques et groupes ethniques en fonction du sexe de l'enfant né hors mariage. Seules les filles nées hors mariage appartenant au groupe ethnique des Sérères et dont la mère était adolescente à la naissance de son premier enfant, présentent un risque de mortalité plus élevé. Des mécanismes compensatoires privés informels ne semblent pas s'établir dans ce cas spécifique.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathalie Guilbert & Karine Marazyan, 2013. "Being Born Out-of-Wedlock: Does it affect a Child’s Survival Chance? An Empirical Investigation for Senegal," Working Papers DT/2013/07, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
  • Handle: RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201307
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Premarital fecundity; marriage; children’s mortality; Senegal; Fécondité prémaritale; mariage; mortalité infantile; Sénégal.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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