Inquiry into the Simultaneous Existence of Malnutrition and Overweight in India

Aravinda Guntupalli, University of Tuebingen

India is facing a double burden of overnutrition and undernutrition; hence, the combination of a high proportion of malnourished people and an increasing proportion of obesity needs further exploration. This paper focuses on the Body Mass Index of Indian women using National Family Health Survey to investigate the simultaneous existence of malnutrition, and overweight and obesity. Logistic regression analysis determines the probability of having underweight and overweight, respectively. The results show that malnutrition is particularly serious for rural, illiterate, low-caste women with low standard of living. Obesity is becoming a substantial problem for urban, well-educated, and high standard of living women. Quantile regression uncovers the varying impact of socioeconomic factors across different BMI quantile groups. The regional differences in specific BMI quantiles obtained through quantile regression is pivotal in terms of policy recommendation.