Overweight Children and Women in India's Cities: Evidence from Three Waves of the National Family Health Survey, 1992-2006

Alka Dev, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR)

Overweight and potential obesity among children in the developing world is an increasing concern as the world becomes more developed and urban (Martorell 2000, Popkin 2006, Jones-Smith 2012). Urbanization and economic development can lead to a public health paradox of concurrent under- and over-nutrition in the developing world population. While malnutrition among children remains a substantial concern, and public health priority, the implications of a simultaneous obesity disparity is not to be ignored. Studies have also suggested that the onset of child obesity lags behind that of adult obesity. This study therefore examines these trends in children and teen and adult women India, from 1992/93-2005/06, a period in which India has seen a rapid rate of urbanization and economic development. Using anthropometric data from the National Family and Health Surveys, we examine the trends and determinants of childhood and adult female obesity in a multivariate model for India’s largest cities.