Oil spills double risk of infant deaths in Nigeria
Babies in Nigeria born to mothers who lived within 10km of an oil spill up to five years before becoming pregnant are twice as likely to die in their first month, according to new research. The study also revealed that such spills damage the health of surviving children. The research was unable to explain why spills that occurred during pregnancy had no effect on child or neonatal mortality rates. It is estimated that the Niger Delta sees spills equivalent to 240,000 barrels of crude oil each year, resulting in polluted water, crops and air.
Oil spills can lead to irreversible environmental degradation and pose hazards to human health. We are the first to study the causal effects of onshore oil spills on neonatal and infant mortality rates. We use spatial data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor and the Demographic and Health Surveys, and rely on the comparison of siblings conceived before and after nearby oil spills. We find that nearby oil spills double the neonatal mortality rate. These effects are fairly uniform across locations and socio-economic backgrounds. We also provide some evidence for negative health effects of nearby oil spills on surviving children.

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