Impact of Early Life Exposure to Environments with Unimproved Sanitation on Education Outcomes: Evidence from Bangladesh

40 Pages Posted: 20 Nov 2019

Date Written: November 18, 2019

Abstract

Despite Bangladesh's notable progress toward the eradication of open defecation, the country still faces severe deficits in the availability of improved sanitation. This paper analyzes the impact of exposure to unimproved sanitation early in childhood on primary school enrollment status, using pseudo-panel data for children ages six to nine years in Bangladesh. The results indicate that unimproved sanitation has a negative and significant impact on primary school enrollment. A child's early exposure to unimproved sanitation decreases the likelihood of being enrolled in primary school by eight to ten percentage points on average compared with a child with access to improved sanitation. The effect is particularly strong -- a difference of 8 to 10 percentage points -- for children ages six to seven. It is also strong in rural areas. The results are statistically robust to errors due to potential omitted variable bias.

Keywords: Water Supply and Sanitation Economics, Engineering, Sanitary Environmental Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Health and Sanitation, Water and Human Health, Town Water Supply and Sanitation, Sanitation and Sewerage, Small Private Water Supply Providers, Health Care Services Industry, Hydrology, Educational Sciences, Nutrition

Suggested Citation

Joseph, George and Rong Hoo, Yi and Moqueet, Nazia Sultana and Chellaraj, Gnanaraj, Impact of Early Life Exposure to Environments with Unimproved Sanitation on Education Outcomes: Evidence from Bangladesh (November 18, 2019). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 9059, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3489559

George Joseph (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Yi Rong Hoo

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Nazia Sultana Moqueet

World Bank

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Gnanaraj Chellaraj

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
53
Abstract Views
352
Rank
681,958
PlumX Metrics