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Women’s Malnutrition in India: The Role of Economic and Social Status

Author

Listed:
  • Shikha Dahiya

    (Madras School of Economics)

  • Brinda Viswanathan

    (Madras School of Economics)

Abstract

This study has used India Human Development Survey, 2005 to study the factors influencing the Body Mass Index (BMI) of women between 20 to 40 years of age in India. BMI captures both undernutrition and over nutrition and a quantile regression model has been used to capture the differential impact of the explanatory variables across the wide range of its values. Variables like per capita income, per capita consumption expenditure and wealth are all important in explaining the variations in BMI but the impact varies across the quantiles. Impact of per capita consumption expenditure is higher than that of the per capita income indicating the effectiveness with which the resources are converted to consumption. Higher levels of wealth status impact BMI more across all the quantiles. Women’s autonomy index shows a positive impact only for higher levels of the index value but the magnitude is very small. In comparison to this, poor dietary diversity, women with younger children, and those working in agriculture related economic activities are worse off with significantly higher impact. Similarly access to clean and safe drinking water, good sanitation facility and use of clean cooking fuel like LPG have a favourable impact on women’s BMI.

Suggested Citation

  • Shikha Dahiya & Brinda Viswanathan, 2014. "Women’s Malnutrition in India: The Role of Economic and Social Status," Working Papers 2014-093, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    • Handle: RePEc:mad:wpaper:2014-093
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2008. "Height, Health, and Inequality: The Distribution of Adult Heights in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 468-474, May.
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    3. repec:pri:rpdevs:deaton_height_health_inequality_revised_ack_jan08 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:pri:rpdevs:deaton_height_health_and_inequality_the_distribution_of_adult_heights_in_india_aerpp.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ackerson, Leland K. & Kawachi, Ichiro & Barbeau, Elizabeth M. & Subramanian, S.V., 2008. "Geography of underweight and overweight among women in India: A multilevel analysis of 3204 neighborhoods in 26 states," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 264-280, July.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    BMI; Women; Quantile Regression; Income; Dietary Diversity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C40 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

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