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Growth reference charts and the nutritional status of Indian children

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  • Tarozzi, Alessandro

Abstract

We evaluate the growth performance of Indian children of age 0-3 using data from the 1998-1999 National Family and Health Survey, making use of the new child growth standards developed by the World Health Organization' Multicentre Growth Reference Study. We find that the new charts lead to an increase of 4.2 million in the estimated number of stunted children, and an increase of 2.3 million in the estimated number of wasted children. The estimated number of underweight children decreases instead by 2.1 million. We also use data on ethnic Indians living in the United Kingdom to provide evidence on the height genetic potential of Indians. We find that children of Indian ethnicity who live in the UK have anthropometric outcomes comparable to those in commonly used growth standards and that the height of ethnic South Asian in the sample is negatively related with the amount of time spent outside the United Kingdom.

Suggested Citation

  • Tarozzi, Alessandro, 2008. "Growth reference charts and the nutritional status of Indian children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 455-468, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:6:y:2008:i:3:p:455-468
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    Cited by:

    1. Luojia Hu & Analía Schlosser, 2015. "Prenatal Sex Selection and Girls’ Well‐Being: Evidence from India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1227-1261, September.
    2. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2013. "Village sanitation and children's human capital : evidence from a randomized experiment by the Maharashtra government," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6580, The World Bank.
    3. Silvia Helena Barcellos & Leandro S. Carvalho & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2014. "Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Treated Differently?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 157-189, January.
    4. repec:pri:cheawb:tscjeff2013%20paper is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Dean Spears, 2012. "How much international variation in child height can sanitation explain?," Working Papers 1436, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    6. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    7. Borooah, Vani, 2018. "Child Malnutrition in India," MPRA Paper 90550, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Spears, Dean, 2020. "Exposure to open defecation can account for the Indian enigma of child height," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    9. Coffey, Diane, 2015. "Early life mortality and height in Indian states," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 177-189.
    10. Seema Jayachandran & Rohini Pande, 2015. "Why Are Indian Children So Short?," NBER Working Papers 21036, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. González, Libertad, 2018. "Sex selection and health at birth among Indian immigrants," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 64-75.
    12. Coffey, Diane & Spears, Dean, 2019. "Neonatal Death in India: Birth Order in a Context of Maternal Undernutrition," IZA Discussion Papers 12288, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. repec:pri:cheawb:spears%20--%20height%20and%20sanitation%201-17-13 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Luojia Hu & Analía Schlosser, 2012. "Trends in Prenatal Sex Selection and Girls' Nutritional Status in India," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 58(2), pages 348-372, June.
    15. Arvind Panagariya, 2012. "The Myth of Child Malnutrition in India," Working Papers 201204, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, revised Dec 2012.
    16. repec:pri:rpdevs:spears_height_and_sanitation is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Alacevich, Caterina & Tarozzi, Alessandro, 2017. "Child height and intergenerational transmission of health: Evidence from ethnic Indians in England," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 65-84.
    18. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2016. "Village sanitation and child health: Effects and external validity in a randomized field experiment in rural India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 135-148.
    19. Ashwini Deshpande & Rajesh Ramachandran, 2020. "Which Indian Children are Short and Why? Social Identity, Childhood Malnutrition and Cognitive Outcomes," Working Papers 27, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    20. Heather Congdon Fors & Annika Lindskog, 2023. "Son preference and education Inequalities in India: the role of gender-biased fertility strategies and preferential treatment of boys," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1431-1460, July.

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