Sibling composition and selective gender-based survival bias

We examine the relationship between the gender composition of surviving older siblings and gender differences in children’s survival using data from the Third National Family and Health Survey (2005–2006) in India. We address the possibility of unobserved mother-specific heterogeneity and explore the role of household wealth, parental education, and urban residence in strengthening or weakening selective gender-based survival bias. We find that daughters’ survival disadvantage increases in the number of older sisters and decreases in the number of older brothers they have. The opposite is true for sons’ survival disadvantage. Household wealth, parental education, and urban residence are all found to intensify selective survival bias among daughters and sons.