Measuring of the socio-economic causes of infant mortality in Macedonia, Turkey and Albania

Aim This study aimed to investigate the contribution of socioeconomic causes of infant mortality in three countries: Macedonia, Turkey and Albania. Subject and methods The infant mortality rate in Macedonia, Turkey and Albania still ranks near the top of the European scale. We used macro aggregate level time series data at the annual level from United Nations and World Bank databases for the period 1991-2017. Infant mortality rate per 1000 live births was used as a dependent variable, and gender parity index for enrollment in secondary school, gross national income per capita, total unemployment rate and employment in agriculture of females in % were used as regressor variables. After controlling for the pool cross-section fixed-effects method and confirmation of a joint significance of the variables with the F test, a more advanced estimation was made with the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) method. Results It was found that the infant mortality rates dropped dramatically in all three countries over the period 1991-2017, and a significant negative effect of these socioeconomic causes on infant mortality rate was also found. There was an SUR effect in our system of equations. Conclusions The results seem to be consistent with many of the other studies in the economics and public health literature measuring the socioeconomic effects on infant mortality rate. The macroeconomic variables influence infant mortality in these three countries in different ways.