DHS dataset

The quantitative work draws on the DHS conducted in African countries. The DHS is an ongoing paper in over 85 low and middle-income countries to construct nationally representative household samples (Corsi et al., 2012). The surveys are conducted at the frequency of three to six years. For Africa, DHSs have been conducted in collaboration with national statistical agencies. The DHS provides detailed information on demographic and social variables at the level of the household, as well as data separately for men, women and children. The demographic information provided includes age, marital status, household size and ethnicity. It also provides socio-economic status markers of individuals and households. These consist of level of education, employment status, household endowment and a wealth index. Table 1 provides the definitions and descriptive statistics on all variables considered in our empirical analyses.