Determinants of Low Birth Weight a Cross Sectional Study: In Case of Pakistan

Ghulam Ghouse and Muhammad Zaid

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of different independent factors on birth weight of infant. The Demographic and Health Survey of Pakistan (PDHS) 2014 data are used for empirical analysis. Binomial Logit Regression is employed for analysis. The analysis revealed the significant relationship of birth weight with mother’s education; Mother’s working status, wealth index of family, gender of child, Place of residence, age of mother at first birth with birth weight of infant. The analysis also revealed that birth-interval, birth order and institutional place of delivery reduce the birth weight children. The male children are more likely to be suffering of low birth weight as compare to female children. As far as mother’s education level, her employment and wealth status increases the risk of low birth weight decreases. It has important policy implications that at least mother’s education should be part of the education policy of Pakistan. The proper medical facilities should be provided at rural areas to decrease the risk of low birth weight and child mortality as well. From the policy perspective the education on birth order and birth interval should be arranged for awareness of parents. For the long-run the socioeconomic status of the household expressed by wealth index is needed.

Keywords: Birth weight; infant; wealth index; Birth Interval and logistic model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I0 I3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-03-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/70660/1/MPRA_paper_70660.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:70660

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().