IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0289880.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rural-urban disparities in nutritional status among ever-married women in Bangladesh: A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach

Author

Listed:
  • Md Ismail Hossain
  • Md Jakaria Habib
  • Faozia Afia Zinia
  • Azizur Rahman
  • Md Injamul Haq Methun
  • Iqramul Haq

Abstract

This study aims to investigate socioeconomic disparities in nutritional status among ever-married women in Bangladesh and to break down urban-rural differences in the underlying causes of undernutrition. We utilized data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18, a sample size of 18328 ever-married women, including 5170 from urban residences, and 13159 from rural residences. To explore socioeconomic inequality, we employed a concentration indexing measure, while a multiple binary logistic regression model was carried out to identify the determinants associated with the outcome variable. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis was performed to decompose the urban-rural gap in women’s nutritional status using associated factors. The prevalence of undernutrition among ever-married women in Bangladesh was 12 percent. Notably, this percentage varied by region, with urban residents accounting for 8.6% and rural residents accounting for 13.3%. Our findings confirmed that undernutrition was more prevalent among women with lower wealth indexes in Bangladesh, as indicated by the concentration index (CIX = −0.26). The multivariable analysis investigating the determinants of undernutrition status among ever-married women, with a focus on residence revealed significant associations with respondent age, education, marital status, mass media access, wealth status, and division. According to the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition and its extension, the prevalence was significantly higher in rural residences of Bangladesh than in urban residences, and the endowment effect explained 86 percent of the total urban-rural difference in undernutrition prevalence. The results of this study indicate that the factors that influence women’s nutritional status in rural areas play a significant role in the gap, and the majority of the gap is caused by education and economic position. In order to effectively promote maternal health policies in Bangladesh, intervention techniques should be created that are aimed at the population, that is, the poorest and least educated.

Suggested Citation

  • Md Ismail Hossain & Md Jakaria Habib & Faozia Afia Zinia & Azizur Rahman & Md Injamul Haq Methun & Iqramul Haq, 2023. "Rural-urban disparities in nutritional status among ever-married women in Bangladesh: A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(12), pages 1-17, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0289880
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289880
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289880
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289880&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0289880?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mahfuzur Rahman & Md. Tariqujjaman & Md. Rayhanul Islam & Sifat Parveen Sheikh & Nadia Sultana & Tahmeed Ahmed & Sayem Ahmed & Haribondhu Sarma, 2022. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Women’s Undernutrition: Evidence from Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017–2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-10, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0289880. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.