Every single day in Nigeria, 2,300 children die before their fifth birthday, making it the second country in the
world with the highest number of under-five mortality rate (U5MR). Maternal education and household poverty
among others have been found to be main determinants of U5MR. However, the role of the inter-play of these
factors is not well understood. The study therefore hypothesized that the children of women at the nexus of poverty
and have no education are more likely to die before their fifth birthday compare to other women in other groups
both in the rural and in the urban areas. Nationally representative sample of 7811 live births to 8558 mothers from
38,948 reproductive aged women in 2013 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) was used. The results
of our findings revealed that the hypothesis was sustained. However, in the rural area, a child whose mother has no
education and not poor do not have a significantly more chance of survival than a child whose mother is ‘not
educated and poor’. This was not the case in urban area. There is the need for interventions to reduce the disparities
in educational attainment and wealth status existing among women both in the rural and in the urban areas.
Wealthy men married to uneducated women should encourage their Wives to take advantage of adult literacy
programs.