Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Socioeconomic inequality in malnutrition in developing countries

Ellen Van de Poel, Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Niko Speybroeck, Tom Van Ourti, Jeanette Vega

Volume 86, Number 4, April 2008, 282-291

Table 3. Estimated wasting rates in children aged less than 5 years according to socioeconomic status

Country	Prevalence of wasting by socioeconomic status quintile^{^a} (%)					Average wasting^{^b} (%)		Concentration index^{^b,c}
Country	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	WHO	NCHS	WHO	NCHS
Sub-Saharan Africa
Benin	12.09	12.06	8.42	7.94	5.76	9.33	7.55	–0.06	–0.04
Burkina Faso	22.01	23.04	23.22	21.27	15.50	21.48	18.72	–0.04	–0.02^{^d}
Cameroon	8.24	8.46	5.86	4.00	2.93	6.23	5.28	–0.06	–0.05
Central African Republic	10.64	10.79	10.53	8.55	7.44	9.25	7.18	–0.03	–0.03
Chad	17.69	14.89	15.90	16.77	15.88	16.09	13.53	0.00^{^d}	0.00^{^d}
Comoros	15.52	13.78	10.36	5.91	8.43	11.00	8.40	–0.08	–0.06
Côte d’Ivoire	7.80	8.25	5.66	5.06	4.25	6.85	7.80	–0.02^{^d}	–0.04
Ethiopia	13.11	13.51	13.52	12.19	7.10	12.70	10.71	–0.02	–0.04
Gabon	4.35	3.02	5.33	5.17	3.27	4.26	2.83	0.00^{^d}	–0.01^{^d}
Ghana	8.57	7.90	8.67	10.20	8.15	8.70	7.12	0.00^{^d}	0.00^{^d}
Guinea	12.38	10.02	10.48	8.34	8.27	9.92	9.17	–0.04	–0.02
Kenya	8.70	5.35	4.80	3.65	7.59	6.23	5.62	–0.05	–0.05
Madagascar	11.83	11.40	9.17	8.95	7.19	10.04	7.75	–0.04	–0.04
Malawi	8.71	7.32	6.92	6.62	5.76	7.02	5.52	–0.02	–0.02
Mali	12.68	15.49	14.24	13.26	9.49	12.91	10.65	–0.04	–0.04
Mauritania	18.25	16.26	15.20	12.04	12.38	15.27	13.40	–0.06	–0.07
Mozambique	8.44	5.88	5.99	5.39	4.70	6.55	4.60	–0.03	–0.02^{^d}
Namibia	13.76	8.61	7.71	6.53	9.14	9.85	8.91	–0.08	–0.04
Niger	30.78	27.24	27.02	25.25	14.98	25.66	20.63	–0.08	–0.09
Nigeria	12.41	13.76	9.98	10.98	9.11	11.34	9.48	–0.03	–0.03
Rwanda	9.11	10.52	8.69	8.14	7.66	8.88	6.85	–0.02	–0.02
Togo	13.86	19.59	13.48	12.17	8.57	13.98	12.42	–0.06	–0.04
Uganda	5.37	5.15	5.99	4.60	3.50	5.11	4.04	–0.01^{^d}	0.00
United Republic of Tanzania	4.62	4.00	3.50	2.93	3.09	3.68	3.12	–0.01	0.00^{^d}
Zambia	5.83	4.70	7.79	5.84	6.39	6.11	4.88	0.01	0.01^{^d}
Zimbabwe	9.87	12.26	9.72	6.38	4.99	8.64	6.44	–0.06	–0.04
Median	11.24	10.66	8.93	8.04	7.51	9.29	7.65	–0.04	–0.03
South and south-east Asia
Bangladesh	16.51	16.48	14.62	12.84	11.51	14.72	12.90	–0.05	–0.03
Cambodia	17.33	17.49	13.68	17.93	18.37	16.89	15.01	0.01^{^d}	–0.01^{^d}
India	22.88	21.82	19.22	16.96	17.13	19.82	15.61	–0.05	–0.04
Nepal	12.26	14.51	11.91	9.36	7.53	11.46	9.69	–0.04	–0.03
Pakistan	18.97	12.47	9.16	12.03	7.88	12.56	9.21	–0.08	–0.05
Median	17.33	16.48	13.68	12.84	11.51	14.72	12.90	–0.05	–0.04
Eastern Mediterranean
Armenia	2.19	2.76	2.32	3.27	2.03	2.53	1.97	0.00^{^d}	0.01^{^d}
Egypt	3.33	3.41	3.20	2.89	2.82	3.17	2.52	–0.01^{^d}	–0.01^{^d}
Kazakhstan	3.04	3.09	1.69	0.86	1.76	2.51	1.82	–0.01^{^d}	0.00^{^d}
Kyrgyzstan	3.21	3.43	4.11	3.16	1.06	3.28	3.44	–0.01^{^d}	–0.01^{^d}
Morocco	14.22	9.34	9.87	9.19	10.52	10.74	9.31	–0.04	–0.05
Turkey	4.00	3.73	2.27	1.98	2.67	3.01	1.90	–0.01	0.00^{^d}
Uzbekistan	19.44	7.41	12.10	13.53	10.26	13.74	11.63	–0.08^{^d}	–0.11
Median	3.33	3.43	3.20	3.16	2.67	3.17	2.52	–0.01	–0.01^{^d}
Latin America and the Caribbean
Bolivia	1.77	1.40	2.01	1.79	1.55	1.70	1.24	0.00^{^d}	0.00^{^d}
Brazil	4.41	2.48	2.24	1.41	2.64	2.75	2.34	–0.02	–0.01^{^d}
Colombia	1.74	1.69	1.68	1.27	1.12	1.54	1.29	–0.01	–0.01
Dominican Republic	3.16	1.90	2.77	1.88	1.44	2.15	1.70	–0.01	–0.02
Guatemala	2.76	3.86	4.21	1.10	2.71	2.91	2.52	–0.01^{^d}	–0.01^{^d}
Haiti	8.09	5.40	5.91	4.05	5.52	5.81	4.61	–0.02^{^d}	–0.01^{^d}
Nicaragua	3.86	2.23	2.78	0.87	1.66	2.37	2.07	–0.02	–0.01
Paraguay	0.73	0.56	0.47	0.67	0.39	0.56	0.33	0.00^{^d}	0.00^{^d}
Peru	2.16	1.02	1.03	0.72	0.71	1.15	0.94	–0.01	–0.01
Median	2.96	2.07	2.51	1.34	1.61	2.26	1.88	–0.01	–0.01^{^d}

^a Based upon WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS).^b Derived using WHO and United States National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth standards.^c Calculated as suggested by Erreygers.²¹^d Social inequality is not significant at the 10% level.