Recovery from stunting in early childhood and subsequent schooling outcomes: Evidence from NIDS Waves 1-5

Abstract

This paper explores the association between catch-up growth in early childhood and subsequent educational outcomes, using data from the first five waves of NIDS conducted between 2008 and 2017. While an extensive literature documents the negative effects of early stunting (a commonly-used marker of undernutrition) on children’s developmental potential, there is far less evidence on whether a recovery from stunting in early childhood - or ‘catch-up growth’ - helps to mitigate the negative effects of early growth retardation. This study shows that, on average, children who recovered from stunting between 2 and 4/5 years of age still go on to complete fewer years of schooling compared to their non-stunted counterparts. This seems to be driven in large part by a slower progression through the schooling system once enrolled. However, there also appear to be heterogeneous effects depending on the extent of recovery: The small proportion of children who recovered such that their height fell within the ‘normal’ range for their age at follow-up, exhibit similar educational outcomes to the non-stunted group. These results have important implications for the timing of nutritional investments in the early childhood period.