FEMALE EDUCATION AND CHILD MORTALITY: THE CASE OF TAJIKISTAN

In developing countries, the living standards of the population can be judged analysing the rates of child mortality in these countries. Child mortality in Central Asia, particularly, Tajikistan, will be worthy to scrutinize as the rate was too high from the past (UNICEF Data, 2020). Aim: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of this high rate in Tajikistan. Methods: Demographic and Health Survey data from Tajikistan in 2017 are used for Probit/MLE regression analyses of the four groups of the main determinants of child mortality: mother, family income, household and child. Findings: Variables of female education (v133), wealth index (v190a), existence of refrigerator (v122), distance from home to hospital (v467d), doctor present during birth (m3a) and age of the mother at the first birth (v212) are found to have significant effect in the determination of child survival. Female education has a significant at 5% coefficient with the value of 2% increase in the child survival chances respective to 1 more year of education. The suggestion is made for governments to draw close attention to the education of women in Central Asia.