The Effect of Prenatal Exposure to Ramadan on Children's Height

Publication Date

2018

Document Type

Article

Abstract

We examine the effect of prenatal exposure to Ramadan on children's height by sex, age, region, and the degree of religiosity. Since Ramadan rotates on solar calendars, we pool demographic and health survey data from numerous developing countries to increase the number of birth years and fairly control for potential seasonal effects. Our results suggest that Ramadan-induced nutritional stress during early- and mid-gestation may negatively affect the height of 3 and 4 years old Muslim male children. The effect tends to be stronger in West Africa and Central Asia. It also tends to be stronger in more religious countries. We do not detect consistent negative effects on height in female children. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Publication Title

Economics and Human Biology

Volume

30

First Page

69

Last Page

83

DOI

10.1016/j.ehb.2018.05.001

Publisher Policy

pre print, post print (12 month embargo)

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