Is socio-economic inequality in childhood undernutrition increasing in urban India?

This paper examines the trends of socioeconomic inequality in childhood undernutrition in urban India using data from all three rounds of the National Family Health Survey conducted during 1992-2005. We analyzed the prevalence of underweight (weight-for-age) among children less than three years old. The socioeconomic predictors were: household wealth and maternal education. Principal component analysis was used to compute a separate wealth index for urban India for all three rounds of the survey. Descriptive statistics, concentration index, and pooled logistic regression technique was used to analyze the data. In general, the prevalence of underweight has declined constantly in urban India, but the current level is still high. Moreover, the decline was greater during 1992-98 than 1998-05. Socio-economic inequality in childhood undernutrition has either widened or stagnated over the study period. Result of pooled regression analysis suggests that decline in the prevalence of underweight was higher among children of the richest quintile compared to the poorest quintile, among most educated mothers compared to uneducated mothers in urban India during 1992-2005. The salient findings of this study call for separate program targeting the children of lower socio-economic groups of urban population.