We use cookies to provide you with the best possible website experience. This includes cookies that are necessary for the operation of the site, as well as cookies used for anonymous statistics, comfort settings, or displaying personalized content. You can decide which categories you want to allow. Please note that depending on your settings, some features of the website may not be available.

Cookie settings

These necessary cookies are required to enable the core functionality of the website. Opting out of these cookies is not possible.

cb-enable
This cookie stores the user's cookie consent status for the current domain. Expiry: 1 year.
laravel_session
Stores the session ID to recognize the user when the page reloads and to restore their login session. Expiry: 2 hours.
XSRF-TOKEN
Provides CSRF protection for forms. Expiry: 2 hours.
IZA Discussion Paper No. 18719
June 2026
Long-Term and Multi-Generational Impacts of Skilled Birth Attendance
Meiping Aggie Sun, Yiying Yang

This paper examines the long-term and multi-generational benefits of skilled birth attendance (SBA), which involves having a trained midwife or doctor present at delivery to safely perform normal deliveries using aseptic techniques and provide first-line emergency obstetric care. Using data on the county-by-county rollout of SBA in China from the 1930s to the 1970s, our research first demonstrates that the SBA reform substantially reduced neonatal mortality. We then show that exposure to skilled delivery during birth leads to a 1.5% increase in adult income. Moreover, we discovered that the benefits of exposure to SBA in previous generations extend to subsequent offspring. Children with at least one parent who experienced SBA have a 2.6% higher monthly income in adulthood than those whose parents did not have access to SBA. We also present evidence of several underlying mechanisms, including improved physical and mental health, better educational outcomes, and enhanced cognitive abilities. Our findings indicate that having skilled health professionals attend childbirths can result in significant long-term and multi-generational benefits.

Kommunikation
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer-ext@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
Netzwerkkoordination
Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

Das IZA@LISER-Netzwerk ist eine weltweite Gemeinschaft für exzellente Forschung in der Arbeitsmarktökonomie und angrenzenden Fachgebieten. Nach dem Wechsel von Bonn wird das Netzwerk nun am Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) koordiniert.

Über das IZA@LISER Network
Contact
IZA@LISER NETWORK (Current Site Operator):

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
11, Porte des Sciences
Maison des Sciences Humaines
L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette / Belval, Luxembourg

IZA Institute (In Liquidation):

Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH i. L.
Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 5-9, 53113 Bonn. Germany
Phone: +49 228 3894-0 | Fax: +49 228 3894-510
E-Mail: info@iza.org | Web: www.iza.org
Represented by: Martin T. Clemens (Liquidator)