Parental education and increased child survival in Madagascar: what can we say?

This paper investigates the relationship between parental education and child mortality in Madagascar. Until recently, most research linking parental education and child mortality had overlooked the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the region having a high childhood mortality rate and a low association between parental education and child survival. Adopting a careful empirical strategy based on availability of schooling infrastructure and internal instruments, this paper contributes to the literature by analyzing the role of both the father’s and mother’s education as well as different educational levels. The results demonstrate that children’s survival probabilities increase when they have a mother with at least primary schooling. Controlling for wealth reduces the effect of mothers’ education by only one-third. In contrast, fathers’ education does not play a significant role in child survival. HIGHLIGHTS Parental education is strongly associated with improvements in child health in many countries. Father’s education is not a strong determinant of child survival in Madagascar. Higher levels of maternal education increase child survival in Madagascar. Wealth only accounts for one-third of the total effect of maternal education. Increasing education levels especially for women will likely reduce child mortality in future generations.