Socio-economic determinants of multidimensional child poverty in Nigeria

Abstract

One of the global community's sustainable development objectives is to end all types of poverty. Although there has been significant improvement made on a global scale, it is still uneven and unacceptably high in sub-Saharan Africa, especially particularly Nigeria. Health, educational, and living conditions are widely disadvantaged throughout the nation's states and geopolitical regions. Consequently, this study evaluates the socio-economic determinants of multidimensional child poverty in Nigeria. For the theoretical connection between unidirectional and multidimensional poverty, the study mostly relied on Sen's capacity approach. To determine the effect of socioeconomic variables on multidimensional poverty, a Probit model was computed. Additionally, the Probit model's marginal effect was simulated to ascertain the likelihood of multidimensional child poverty According to the study, the largest determinants of the likelihood of multidimensional child poverty in Nigeria are household per capita consumer spending, per capita family income, household size, child's age, and the gender of the household head. In particular, the marginal effect model shows that increasing per capita consumption expenditure by 1% will result in a reduction in the likelihood of multidimensional child poverty of 0.872, while increasing per capita income by 1% will result in a reduction in the likelihood of multidimensional child poverty of 0.047. Once more, being in an urban region lowers the likelihood of multidimensional child poverty by around 0.068. While families with a male head have a multidimensional child chance that is -0.230 lower than those with a female head. However, efficient family planning initiatives that encourage women to have fewer children will significantly improve the situation for children living in poverty.