Macroeconomic Determinants of Infant Mortality in WAEMU Countries: Evidence from Panel Data Analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates the macroeconomic determinants of infant mortality in WAEMU countries for the period 1980–2016. A panel data model from WAEMU countries was used to identify the macroeconomic determinants of infant mortality. We used fixed effects instrumental variables (FE-IV) estimator in panel data model. Our analysis using econometric estimations after correcting for endogeneity showed that female literacy, GDP per capita as a proxy for income, public health expenditure as a percentage of GDP and urbanization significantly affect infant mortality rate in a negative way.