New report: The Impact of Drought on Educational Attainment

This master thesis written by Mina Mariussen and co-financed by Vista Analyse study the effect of drought on educational attainment in ten countries south of Sahara. Climate change will probably intensify drought in areas that already are dry. It is important for adaptation and mitigation to assess and understand the impact of drought. Using econometric methods this thesis estimates the impact of drought on educational attainment in Sub-Saharan Africa, using geocoded data on climate and households across a time span of seventy years.

Findings suggest that in the presence of drought, individuals attain around a quarter of a year less education, and the probability of having any education is reduced by roughly three percent. This effect is mainly driven by an adverse effect for females. This heterogeneous effect on genders seems to be reversed when comparing subsamples of those born in the 1950s and 1990s, indicating a shift in gender norms with regards to education across time. The thesis is part of Vista Analyses´ research program in environment and development.