The Socioeconomic Distribution of Adult Mortality during Conflicts in Africa

Abstract We analyze socioeconomic differences in adult mortality in four African countries-the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone-using the adult mortality module in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), calculating mortality based on the sibling mortality reports collected from female respondents aged 15-49. We discuss the advantages and potential issues associated with this data source. While mortality events precipitated by those civil conflicts tend to affect all groups, we conclude that they appear to affect men, and in particular urban and more educated men to a greater extent than the other groups.