Analytical Study of Mortality Differentials Between Religious Groups in Nigeria

Religious affiliation is associated with health behaviours, healthcare-seeking patterns, and social support networks that may produce measurable mortality differentials, and analytical examination of this relationship in Nigeria fills an important gap in social demography. This study analytically examined mortality differentials between Muslim and Christian populations in Nigeria using NDHS 2018 data, focusing on child mortality, adult mortality, and maternal mortality as key outcomes. The analysis was stratified by geopolitical zone to separate the confounding effects of geographic variation from religious group effects. Logistic regression models were specified controlling for wealth, education, urban-rural residence, and maternal age. Results showed that unadjusted child mortality was significantly higher in Muslim-majority northern states (IMR 104 per 1,000) than in Christian-majority southern states (IMR 48). After controlling for wealth, education, and healthcare access, the religious differential in child mortality was reduced by 74 percent, suggesting that socioeconomic and service access differences explained most of the unadjusted religious gap. Residual religious differential (11 percent higher child mortality in Muslim households nationally) remained after full adjustment, attributed to differences in health-seeking behaviour patterns. Maternal mortality showed a similar pattern. The study provides an original analytical contribution to Nigerian social demography by separating the social mechanisms through which religion influences mortality from the confounding role of socioeconomic conditions in geographically segmented analyses.

Keywords: mortality differentials, religious groups, Nigeria, child mortality, social demography