Page 127 - IJPS-10-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Child malnutrition in rural India

had completed secondary or higher education. Regarding 3.2. Differentials in child malnutrition by
the household characteristics, the general caste category background characteristics
accounted for 37% of the households, scheduled caste Table 3 represents a summary of nutritional outcomes
for30%, scheduled tribe for 15%, and other backward class among the studied children (n = 200). It was found that
(OBC) for 18%. It is evident that 55% of the households had the prevalence of wasting, underweight, and stunting were
<1 ha of land and 45% of the households had more than 1 ha 36%, 35.5%, and 22.5%, respectively. Among the households
of land. The survey also showed that 61% of the households with very low crop diversification, nearly three-fourth of
resided in kaccha house and 39% in semi-pucca house. those children were found to be underweight, stunted, and

Table 3. Percentage distribution of underweight, stunted, and wasted children categorized by household crop diversification and
background characteristics, 2017
Variables Underweight (<−2 SD) Stunting (<−2 SD) Wasting (<−2 SD)
Transformed Herfindahl index
Very low 71.83 73.61 71.11
Low 21.12 19.44 24.45
Moderate 7.05 6.95 4.44
Age of the children
<2 years 39.43 37.5 40
2–3 years 26.76 29.16 35.55
4–5 years 33.81 33.34 24.45
Gender of the children
Male 49.30 52.78 60
Female 50.70 47.22 40
Birth order
First 60.56 62.5 53.33
Second 39.44 37.5 46.67
Age of mother
<25 years 70.42 72.22 55.55
>25 years 29.58 27.78 44.45
Education of mother
Lower than secondary education 16.90 20.83 8.89
Secondary education and above 83.10 79.17 91.11
Caste of the household
General 32.39 34.73 40
Scheduled caste 40.84 38.89 33.33
Scheduled tribe 12.67 16.67 11.11
OBC 14.09 9.72 15.57
Type of house
Kaccha 71.84 69.44 77.78
Semi-pucca 28.16 30.56 22.22
Farm size of households (in ha)
<1 ha 54.92 54.16 44.44
More than one hectare 45.08 45.84 55.56
Total 35.5 36 22.5
Abbreviations: OBC: Other backward class; <−2 SD: Below minus two standard deviations.

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 121 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0324