The world is losing billions in wages because of poor child growth
A new study says that health problems facing children in the developing world result in lost wages of US$176.8 billion per birth–year cohort.
The study, funded by the Canadian government and conducted by researchers from Harvard University, explores the economic impact of what researchers call “early-life growth faltering,” or when a child’s physical condition is below the normal range for healthy children.
The authors say this arises from a number of factors, including: poor nutrition, premature birth, low breastfeeding rates and early exposure to infection. It does not factor in cognitive or socio-emotional variables such as stimulation and play.
“Our estimates suggest that we are losing at least $177 billion of potential career earnings per birth cohort due to early-life growth faltering in developing countries,” said Gunter Fink, the paper’s senior author and professor at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in a press release.
WHO estimates that 15 million babies are born prematurely every year, and many of those that survive face a “lifetime of disability.” Meanwhile, UNICEF says malnutrition increases the severity and frequency of infections and if it occurs in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life it can result in stunted growth, which is irreversible and associated with impaired cognitive ability.
In 2014, 23.8 per cent of children under the age of five around the world had stunted growth.
The study estimates that every dollar invested in alleviating these difficult conditions facing children in the developing world would yield a $3 return, and that nations could help kick-start that change. That figure does not take into account the potential boosts to the workforce and improvements of health outcomes.
The researcher said in the paper that recent studies have pegged the annual cost of a comprehensive program on a national level aimed at tackling these issues would cost roughly $100 or less per child, but could cut down on 20 per cent of early-life growth faltering.
“By quantifying the impact that early childhood development has on personal and national economic wellbeing, our study provides further evidence for investing in childhood development,” said Fink.
In addition to future income loss, the study looked at the educational attainment of children from a birth cohort and assumed that they will be spending most of their adult lives, ages 20 to 60, working.
The paper also estimated that early-life growth faltering is also correlated to 69.4 million years of lost education per birth cohort. The authors said that the stymying of these education opportunities is “highly predictive of adult incomes.”
The study said the economic costs of early developmental challenges are felt the most in South Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, where they’re responsible for a loss in wages to the tune of $46.6 billion, $44.7 billion and $34.2 billion respectively.
However, Fink said the study likely underestimated their impact, and emphasized the need for further funding.
“We made conservative assumptions and only captured losses due to physical growth delays, not accounting for cognitive or socio-emotional delays,” he said.
“This further emphasizes the economic benefits that could be created by a more comprehensive package of early interventions improving all domains of development.”
The study was funded by the Canadian government through Grand Challenges Canada, which is an organization dedicated to supporting innovators in low- and middle-income countries.
Dr. Peter Singer, the group’s CEO, stressed the importance of eliminating the barriers to success facing youth in these nations.
“If we truly want the so-called developing world to develop, we have to stop wasting the world's most precious economic and social asset and ensure children thrive,” he said in the press release.