Family Size and Nutritional Outcomes in Children: Lessons from Pakistan

Deteriorating child health impacts socioeconomic outcomesand is acritical concern. This study explores how thechild nutritionis affected by the family sizein Pakistan, utilising data of 4031individuals fromtheDemographic Health Surveyof Pakistan 2017-18. The indicators likeheightforageSscore, weightforheightSscore, and weightforageSscoreare used to estimate child nutrition. To address endogeneity, instrumental variable approachis employed, andthe family sizeis instrumented by genderof the first child (girl). The results show that if there is an increase in the family sizetheHASscorelowersby0.19SDand the probability of stuntingincreases by 4.2percentwhile no significant impact is observed on WHSand WAS. However, if family sizeincreases, it is alsoassociated with a 3.1percentincrease in the child’s likelihoodof being underweight.Hence,an increase in family sizewill have a long-term detrimental effect on children’s nutritional status.