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Malnutrition and poverty in Guatemala

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  • Marini, Alessandra
  • Gragnolati, Michele

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to document the extent, and distribution of child, and adult malnutrition in Guatemala; to analyze the relationship between selected child, maternal, household and community characteristics, and children's nutritional status; and, to outline the implications of the most important findings for nutritional policy. The prevalence of chronic malnutrition among Guatemalan children in 2000, was the highest in Latin America, and among the highest in the world. The data show very strong socioeconomic, and geographic inequality. The econometric analysis reveals a strong impact of income, and of inter-generational effects. Education of adults in the household, and the availability of infrastructure, are other important determinants of children's growth attainment. Finally, even controlling for income, and other household and community characteristics, ethnicity remains an important determinant of child nutritional status. The study also reveals an increasing prevalence of excess weights, and obesity among children and adults. Over-nutrition tends to be higher among individuals living in urban areas, and among non-poor, and non-indigenous households.

Suggested Citation

  • Marini, Alessandra & Gragnolati, Michele, 2003. "Malnutrition and poverty in Guatemala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2967, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:2967
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    Cited by:

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    2. Omilola, Babatunde, 2010. "Patterns and trends of child and maternal nutrition inequalities in Nigeria," IFPRI discussion papers 968, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Juliana Yael Milovich & Elena Villar, 2020. "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. Impact Evaluation of the Training for Volunteers in Health and the Nutritional Recovery Cycles in West Guatemala," EconomiX Working Papers 2020-14, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    4. Stamoulis, Kostas & Zezza, Alberto, 2003. "A conceptual framework for national agricultural, rural development, and food security strategies and policies," ESA Working Papers 289082, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    5. David E. Sahn & Stephen D. Younger, 2009. "Measuring intra‐household health inequality: explorations using the body mass index," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S1), pages 13-36, April.
    6. Zezza, Alberto & Tasciotti, Luca, 2010. "Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security: Empirical evidence from a sample of developing countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 265-273, August.
    7. Carletto, Calogero & Covarrubias, Katia & Maluccio, John A., 2011. "Migration and child growth in rural Guatemala," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 16-27, February.
    8. Ephraim W Chirwa & Harold Pe Ngalawa, 2008. "Determinants Of Child Nutrition In Malawi," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 76(4), pages 628-640, December.
    9. Nagata, Jason M. & Valeggia, Claudia R. & Barg, Frances K. & Bream, Kent D.W., 2009. "Body mass index, socio-economic status and socio-behavioral practices among Tz'utujil Maya women," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 96-106, March.
    10. Jason Davis & Noli Brazil, 2016. "Migration, Remittances and Nutrition Outcomes of Left-Behind Children: A National-Level Quantitative Assessment of Guatemala," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, March.
    11. Sweeney, Stuart & Davenport, Frank & Grace, Kathryn, 2013. "Combining insights from quantile and ordinal regression: Child malnutrition in Guatemala," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 164-177.
    12. Alcaraz V., Gabriela & Zeller, Manfred, 2009. "Insights from the Guatemalan food system: an application of exploratory spatial data analysis techniques for food security analysis," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51488, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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