Child nutrition: The effect of micro and macro fertility levels at birth

We evaluate the human capital effects of fertility-induced resource constraints at both the country and household levels in developing countries. Using data from 140 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) covering 60 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America since 1999, we explore the impact of changes in fertility at the time of a child’s birth on their nutrition. We match micro-level data on approximately 1,050,000 DHS children under the age of five to time-series data on demographic factors in each sample country. Household-level fertility at birth is measured by the number of older siblings still alive at the time of the child’s birth while country-level fertility corresponds to the total fertility rate observed in the country. Our country and mother fixed effects models suggest that higher fertility, both at the country-level and at the household-level, worsens child nutrition, suggesting that greater pressure on resources outweighs the positive effect derived from enhanced childrearing experiences when the child has more older siblings. Regional heterogeneity tests show that in most cases, both country- and household-level fertility have larger negative effects on nutrition in Asia as compared to Africa and Latin America.