Economic and Socio-Demographic Determinants of Child Nutritional Status in Egypt: A Comprehensive Analysis using Quantile Regression Approach

This paper examines the underlying economic and socio-demographic determinants of child nutritional status in Egypt using data from the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey. The Height for Age Z-score (HAZ) is used as a measurement of child growth assessment. We contribute to the extant literature by using a quantile regression model to allow for a heterogeneous effect of each determinant along different percentiles of the conditional distribution of the HAZ score. We use a nationally representative sample of 13,682 children aged 0–4 years, for which we observe their health measures. The multivariate analyses include a set of HAZ determinants that are widely used in the literature. The conditional and unconditional analyses reveal a socioeconomic gradient in child nutritional status, in which children of low income-education families have lower HAZ than children from the high income-education households. We also find significant disparities in child nutritional status by demographic and social characteristics. The quantile regression results show that the association between the economic and socio-demographic factors and the HAZ differ along the conditional HAZ distribution. Intervention measures need to take into account the heterogeneous effect of the determinants of child nutritional status along the different percentiles of the HAZ distribution. There is no one-size-fits-all policy to combat child malnutrition; a multifaceted approach would be required to address this problem effectively. JEL Classification : I14, J13