Orphans at Risk in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence on Educational and Health Outcomes

Mortality rates among prime-age adults are dramatically high in many sub-Saharan African countries, and, as a consequence, the number of orphaned children is high and increasing. In this paper, we identify the educational and health effects of orphanhood in sub-Saharan African countries. We draw on comparable data for eleven sub-Saharan African countries with especially high rates of orphanhood. We define an orphan as a child with at least one deceased biological parent. In the analyzed countries, 10% or more of children under the age of 15 growing up in private households are orphans. It is very likely that the high incidence of parental death not only impacts the demographic composition of the respective countries, but also affects human capital formation. Therefore, on the micro level, we seek to examine how being an orphan affects individual schooling and health outcomes. More specifically, our research compares the educational and health outcomes of orphans living under the same conditions as non-orphans. We also examine the impacts of various family structures and compare social orphans (non-orphaned children not living with a biological parent) to orphans. In sum, our findings suggest that in most countries, orphans and social orphans growing up under the same conditions as non-orphans are significantly worse off in terms of their observed educational and health outcomes. Compared to children whose parents are alive and live with their biological parents, orphans lag behind in education. Our estimations indicate that orphaned children lag behind their non-orphan counterparts in cumulative school participation by onefifth to one-half of a year. Children are especially harmed by not growing up with a biological mother. In most countries, we observe hardly any additional effect of growing up without a father. The findings call for policies that specifically address the situation faced by orphans in sub-Saharan African countries. According to our results, policy measures should seek to specifically assist children whose mothers are alive, but absent from the household.

Coneus, Katja and Andrea Mühlenweg (2011), Orphans at Risk in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence on Educational and Health Outcomes, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 11-008, Mannheim.