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The Relationship Between Poverty and Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from Nigeria

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  • Aregbeshola, B.S.;
  • Salmasi, L.;
  • Shomali, K.W.A.;

Abstract

People living in poverty generally do not have proper access to food and nutrition, with negative consequences for their children’s health and possible long-term negative effects in terms of human capital accumulation, health, and labor market achievements. In this paper, we examine the relationship between poverty and children’s nutritional status using the 2008, 2013, and 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys. We adopt an approach based on instrumental variables to control for endogeneity. Our study finds that poverty reduced weight-for-height, weight-for-age, and height-for-age Z-scores by 21.32, 30.33, and 27.67 percentage points, respectively. We also find that poverty increases the likelihood of a child being wasted, underweight, and stunted by 5.99, 5.49, and 6.99 percentage points. We show that the mechanisms underlying the relationship between poverty and children’s nutritional status are health care service utilization, maternal health care service use, household nutrition, child-specific nutrition intake, maternal nutrition, and illness episodes.

Suggested Citation

  • Aregbeshola, B.S.; & Salmasi, L.; & Shomali, K.W.A.;, 2025. "The Relationship Between Poverty and Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from Nigeria," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 25/08, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    • Handle: RePEc:yor:hectdg:25/08
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General
    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

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