Child survival and contraception choice: Theory and evidence

Joydeep Bhattacharya, Shankha Chakraborty and Minkyong Kim

Journal of Macroeconomics, 2023, vol. 77, issue C

Abstract: This paper asks whether increases in child survival bring down fertility and incentivize couples to switch from traditional to modern methods of contraception. Our parsimonious model predicts the answer in each case is, yes. We test these connections using household-level Demographic and Health Surveys from recent fertility transitions using arguably exogenous variation in child survival at the regional level. We find a 1% increase in ambient child survival leads to a fertility drop of 1.2%. The same raises the chance of switching to modern birth control (and sticking to it) by 0.4%. Our finding supports the notion that prevailing rates of child survival influence the effectiveness of family planning programs that promote modern contraceptive use.

Keywords: Fertility; Contraception; Child mortality; Fertility transition; Demographic transition; Demography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I18 J13 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Child Survival and Contraception Choice: Theory and Evidence (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jmacro:v:77:y:2023:i:c:s0164070423000459

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2023.103545

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