Peer-reviewed article

Maternal Education, Female Labour Participation and Child Health Outcomes in Nigeria

Olaide Sekinat Balogun · 7 Jul 2026

Abstract

The study examined the impact of maternal education and female labour participation on child health outcomes in Nigeria from 1990 to 2024.The study was motivated by the persistent challenge of preventable child deaths in Nigeria, where many children died before reaching the age of five.An ex post facto research design was adopted using annual secondary time-series data.The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was employed to analyse both the short-run and long-run relationships among the variables.The empirical findings showed that malnutrition and low vaccination coverage were key drivers of under-five mortality.A one-unit increase in infant mortality and malnutrition increased under-five mortality by 1.60 and 0.10 units, respectively.Conversely, vaccination had a strong negative effect, as a one percent increase reduced under-five mortality by 4.90 units.Similarly, under-five mortality increased infant mortality by 0.32 units.The study concluded that child health outcomes depended largely on adequate nutrition and immunization coverage, while maternal education and female labour participation had no statistically significant impact in Nigeria.The study recommended that the government should prioritize adequate nutrition and expand immunization coverage to reduce under-five mortality.It further recommended policies aimed at addressing child malnutrition through improved food security and healthcare access.Additionally, the government should enhance the quality and relevance of maternal education while creating supportive conditions for women's labour force participation without compromising effective childcare practices.