The lives of children around the world are threatened many times in the early stages of their existence due to a variety of factors. Currently, many countries around the world still have very high child mortality rates. Child mortality and its causes are factors that directly affect and are affected by the general well-being of the population. The rate is considered a development indicator of the health status of countries around the world and also allows conclusions to be drawn about the quality of life of a given population. Child mortality rates, along with other health indicators, also represent an important value for assessing the development level of countries – it is not only a serious societal problem but also a sensitive indicator of social development. Reducing child mortality and ensuring the survival and improvement of child health is therefore a highly relevant global issue and is included in the sustainable development goals for 2030, among others.
Furthermore, the evaluation of reasons for child mortality is very important for the development of action strategies for improvement – among others in the field of public health. If correlations between different factors influencing mortality rates can be identified, measures to address them can be derived. Therefore, this research study aims to statistically investigate various factors influencing child mortality.
2 Child Survival and its Development
3 Quantitative Research
3.1 Data Set
3.2 Descriptive Statistics
3.3 Statistical Analysis
4 Results
5 Conclusion
Reference List
Appendices
Index of Figures
Figure 1: Under-five Mortality Rate from 1990 to 2020
Figure 2: Under-five Mortality Rate by Region in 2020
Figure 3: Distribution of Countries by Region
Figure 4: Distribution of Income Groups
Figure 5: Histogram – Probability of Survival to Age 5 (PSA5)
Figure 6: Histogram – Expected Years of School (EYOS)
Figure 7: Histogram – Expected Years of School for Women (EYOSW)
Figure 8: Boxplot – EYOS & EYOSW
Index of Tables
Table 1: Test of Homogeneity of Variances – EYOSW
Table 3: Pearson’s Correlational Analysis – Income & EYOSW
Table 4: Regression Analysis – Income & EYOSW
Table 5: Pearson’s Correlational Analysis – PSA5, Income & EYOSW
Appendices
Appendix 1: Test of Homogeneity of Variances – EYOSW
Appendix 2: Kruskal-Wallis Test
Appendix 3: Pairwise Comparison of Regions
Appendix 4: Pearson’s Correlational Analysis – Income & EYOSW
Appendix 5: Regression Analysis – Income & EYOSW
Appendix 6: Pearson’s Correlational Analysis – PSA5, Income & EYOSW
1 Introduction
The lives of children around the world are threatened many times in the early stages of their existence due to a variety of factors. Currently, many countries around the world still have very high child mortality rates (UN IGME, 2021). Child mortality and its causes are factors that directly affect and are affected by the general well-being of the population. The rate is considered a development indicator of the health status of countries around the world and also allows conclusions to be drawn about the quality of life of a given population (Hanmer et al., 2003). Child mortality rates, along with other health indicators, also represent an important value for assessing the development level of countries – it is not only a serious societal problem but also a sensitive indicator of social development (Perkiö, 2021). Reducing child mortality and ensuring the survival and improvement of child health is therefore a highly relevant global issue and is included in the sustainable development goals for 2030, among others.
Furthermore, the evaluation of reasons of child mortality is very important for the development of action strategies for improvement – among others in the field of public health (Hanmer et al., 2003). If correlations between different factors influencing mortality rates can be identified, measures to address them can be derived. Therefore, this research study aims to statistically investigate various factors influencing child mortality.
2 Child Survival and its Development
In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was established and adopted by all member states of the United Nations. The goals cover a wide range of areas – from ending poverty, improving health and education, (gender) equality, clean water and clean energy, climate action, peace and justice, to accelerating decent work and economic growth. As part of the 2030 Agenda, the goal was established to ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being of all people, which includes ending preventable deaths in children under five years of age, with all countries aiming for a mortality rate of 25 or fewer deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030 (United Nations, 2015).
In 2020, more than five million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday (UN IGME, 2021). However, when compared to 1990, a child born today has a better chance of surviving his or her fifth year of life everywhere in the world. As shown in the figure below, the global under-five mortality rate has dropped 61 percent, from 93.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 36.6 in 2020. On average, 13,800 children under age five died each day in 2020, compared with 34,000 in 1990.
Figure 1: Under-five Mortality Rate from 1990 to 2020
Note: Adapted from United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), 2021
However, despite further declines in child mortality compared to previous years, the mission to end preventable child deaths remains far from unfinished. Globally, numerous nations are still not sufficiently progressing toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. If current developments continue as they have, 54 countries will not meet the under-five mortality target by 2030 and even more countries are at risk of missing the target for neonatal mortality (UN IGME, 2021). The pace of mortality decline must therefore accelerate to achieve these goals if the remaining countries are aiming to meet them on time. Among the total of 54 countries, 38 will need to more than double their current rate of progress to meet the target by 2030. Yet this does not take into account additional challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or other contingencies (UN IGME, 2021).
2.1 Global Differences
Children's chances of growing up and experiencing a healthy life vary significantly depending on where and into what economic circumstances they are born. Particularly in low- and middle-income countries, the risk of child death in the early years of life remains one of the most critical social and public health challenges (UN IGME, 2021).
The risk of a child dying before his or her first birthday in Central and West Africa is almost 20 times higher than in Western Europe, Australia or New Zealand (Perkiö, 2021). While the global under-five mortality rate has dropped to 36.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, children born in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have the lowest survival rates in the world (UN IGME, 2021). In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 2.7 million children – 54 percent of all child deaths worldwide – died in 2020 before their fifth birthday. In addition to the sub-Saharan region, Southern Asia is also the region most affected by child mortality. Another 27 percent of global child deaths occurred in this region, where 1.4 million children under the age of five died in 2020 (UN IGME, 2021).
In the following figure, it can be seen that there are significant differences between global regions. The dotted line indicates where the Sustainable Development Goal of 25 deaths per 1.000 live births lies and that countries in the above-mentioned regions in particular are far from achieving the goal.
Figure 2: Under-five Mortality Rate by Region in 2020
Note: United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), 2021
Although child mortality has declined in all countries, there are large differences especially when comparing high- and middle-high income to low-income countries. Most problematic is that many of the countries particularly affected do not have functioning organizational structures and thus reliable data to directly capture the underlying causes of mortality in this age group (Black et al., 2021). Such data are essential, especially to understand the reasons for high child mortality and to identify appropriate objectives and measures to address them – both globally and in individual countries.
2.2 Influencing Factors
There are various identified factors which can influence the child mortality rate. According to the United Nations, communicable and infectious diseases remain the leading cause of deaths among children under five (UN IGME, 2021). This is accompanied by essential indicators such as lack of access to electricity, adequate sanitation, running water and basic child health services (Black et al., 2021). In general, these factors are expected to be significantly improved by greater average economic performance and higher per capita income in a country. Further to this, higher average levels of education in a country can improve children's health by influencing norms and values taught, achieving technological advances that have an impact on health, increasing the availability of educated health workers, and supporting national policies that promote the health of the whole population (Fuchs et al., 2011).
In general, gender disparities in child mortality exist in a small number of countries. The global under-five mortality rate in 2020 was 39 deaths per 1,000 live births for boys and 34 deaths for girls. Therefore, on average, the under-five mortality rate is expected to be slightly higher for boys than for girls (UN IGME, 2021).
At the demographic and socioeconomic levels, marital status, household size, and reproductive behavioral factors were found to be indicators affecting child survival (Black et al., 2021). Furthermore, factors including women's education, women's reproductive autonomy and breastfeeding are supposed to have a positive impact on child survival rates (Perkiö, 2021). Maternal education and their ability to manage household and health care decisions are among the most effective indicators of child survival, according to studies, and the decline in the average probability of child death with increasing educational level is even greater than the decline associated with increasing wealth (Fuchs et al., 2011). Maternal education is therefore identified in many sources as a significant key factor influencing improvements in child survival rate (Fuchs et al., 2011; Black et al., 2020; Perkiö, 2021). Mothers who are educated have a better understanding of information and issues related to health education and nutrition and their education also leads to a large increase in the use of health care services offered (Black et al., 2021).
Moreover, especially in low-income countries, women's level of education is associated with lower birth rates as they have access to contraceptives, more medical knowledge and usually marry at an older age (Perkiö, 2021). Women's education also plays a versatile role in promoting social development, for example, through the realization of human rights and the promotion of economic development (Perkiö, 2021). In evaluating strategies to improve child health in developing countries, these findings have already identified the need to promote women's education (Fuchs et al., 2011).
Given these findings, the following section examines whether women's education and income are influential factors in child survival. The subsequent hypotheses are proposed to further evaluate the contextual factors and correlations.
Hypotheses 1: There is a difference in the expected years in school for women living in different regions of the world.
Hypotheses 2: There is a significant impact of the income group of a country on the expected years in school of women.
Hypotheses 3a: There is a significant impact of the income group of a country on the child survival rate.
Hypotheses 3b: There is a significant impact of the expected years in school of women on the child survival rate.
The hypotheses are tested statistically with a data set in the following section to verify whether they support the statements found in the literature analysis.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Anonym,, 2022, Women's education and income as influencing factors on child mortality rates, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1273963
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