Birth order and health of newborns

Anne Brenøe and Ramona Molitor
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Ramona Molitor: University of Passau

Journal of Population Economics, 2018, vol. 31, issue 2, No 2, 363-395

Abstract: Abstract We examine birth order differences in health of newborns and follow the children throughout childhood using high-quality administrative data on individuals born in Denmark between 1981 and 2010. Family fixed effects models show a positive and robust effect of birth order on health at birth; firstborn children are less healthy at birth. During earlier pregnancies, women are more likely to smoke, receive more prenatal care, and are more likely to suffer a medical pregnancy complication, suggesting worse maternal health. We further show that the health disadvantage of firstborns persists in the first years of life, disappears by age seven, and becomes a health advantage in adolescence. In contrast, later-born children are throughout childhood more likely to suffer an injury. The results on health in adolescence are consistent with previous evidence of a firstborn advantage in education and with the hypothesis that postnatal investments differ between first- and later-born children.

Keywords: Birth order; Child health; Fetal health; Health at birth; Prenatal investments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 I14 J12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-017-0660-1

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