Does having children influence female lifespan in Mauritius?

This paper investigates the potential relationship between longevity and parity among women. mortality records from 2005 to 2014 were retrieved from the health statistics unit of the ministry of health,mauritius. descriptive statistics and graphics were used to explain this relationship. a survival analysis was performed to investigate the risks of dying with respect to parity. while causality cannot be established due to the lack of potential confounding variables for mortality,the fitted weighted cox regression model revealed a positive relationship between parity (above two children) and female lifespan. on the other hand,mothers having between one and two children were found to have lower survival probabilities compared with nulliparous females. © universiti putra malaysia press.