Every day, about 15,000 children under the age of five die from preventable causes.

But children of highly educated parents survive more often than others. This statistic applies worldwide, according to a large systematic review recently published in The Lancet.

The mother’s level of education is particularly important for the survival of her children.

An additional year of education for the mother is associated with an average reduction of about three percent in mortality. “

Professor Terje Andreas Eikemo, Department of Sociology and Political Science, NTNU

This observation underlines the great importance of girls’ education. An estimated 750 million adults cannot read or write, and two-thirds of them are women.

“The findings provide a strong argument for continuing efforts to ensure that girls complete primary and secondary education, especially now that the pandemic threatens to slow progress,” says Kam Sripada, neuroscientist and one of the original authors of the ‘study.

The study is also one of the largest ever to show that father’s education also plays a major role. Here, a child’s risk of dying before his fifth birthday was 1.6% lower per year of schooling than a father’s.

Eikemo heads CHAIN ​​- the Center for Global Health Inequalities Research at NTNU. This group has led international cooperation efforts.

The group reviewed previous research in the field, a total of 300 study articles including data at the individual level, from just over three million births.

“We collected all the data and articles in all languages ​​that deal with parent education and the importance of infant mortality. Our study reviewed mortality rates at one month, one year and five years, “explains Professor Eikemo.

The importance of parent education becomes more critical as children grow older. The higher the education level of the parents, the more successful their children on average.

“Good health for the first five years of children is important for more than just survival. The brain also grows fastest during this phase. That is why it is crucial to invest in the school system – from the early years through to higher education. Good conditions can be passed down from generation to generation, and the reverse is also true, ”says Sripada.

Mortality among children under five has halved globally since 1990, thanks to international, national and local efforts.

But infant mortality rates vary widely from country to country. In developing countries, just over 10% of children die before the age of five. In Norway the percentage is 0.3 percent. The global average is now just under 5 percent.

The main causes of death of children before the age of five are premature births, pneumonia, various infections, diarrhea, malnutrition and malaria, in addition to various complications during and immediately after birth.

Causal relationships are complicated. Education level, for example, is linked to both income and social status, which in turn is linked to factors such as lifestyle and access to health services.

“There may be various factors that explain the results of our study. Parental health literacy, care-seeking behaviors and inbreeding are some of the potential links between parental education and infant mortality,” Sripada explains. . The researchers found no limit to where the benefit of more education flattens out. The more education, the better.

“We haven’t found flattening where more education means less. Each additional year of education increases the chances of survival,” Eikemo said.

Researchers also recognize the benefits of education when it is adjusted for socioeconomic status, which more or less overlaps with the more politically charged concept of social class.

“Rich countries have less infant mortality, but also in these countries it is linked to the education of parents,” says Eikemo.

The study emphasizes the link between social inequalities and health.

“This is a scientific breakthrough. It is the result of fantastic teamwork from several overlapping disciplines,” says Eikemo.

The University of Washington Institute for Health Measurement and Evaluation (IHME), Princeton University, University of California Los Angeles, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and think tank RAND Corporation were involved in the work. The participants of the NTNU were the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the University Library of the NTNU.