Educational Attainment and Health Outcomes in Nigeria: A Survey from NDHS (2008 & 2013)

Abstract

This study simply seeks to analyse the degree to which health status of individuals affect the level of education attained and to adjudicate the influence of socio-demographic and health status on the level of education attained using Nigeria as a case study. The theory adopted in this study is the Grossman model of demand for health. Socio-demographic variables include age, wealth index, and type of place of residence; while health-related variables include wellness index, source of drinking water, share toilet with other households, the predominance of mosquito net, treatment of water, and current marital status. Microdata from the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) for years 2008 and 2013 are used as a tool to carry out this analysis via SPSS software. Univariate and bivariate analysis is carried out which includes frequency distribution and cross-tabulation respectively. Multiple regression is used to analyse the effect of health status and several socio-demographic factors on educational attainment. Health status with socio-demographic factors is found to significantly impact educational attainment in Nigeria in the years 2008 and 2013.