Socioeconomic Inequity in Excessive Weight in Indonesia

Abstract

Exploiting the Indonesian Family Life Survey, this paper studies the transition of socioeconomic related disparity of excess weight, including overweight and obesity, from 1993 to 2014. First, we show that the proportions of overweight and obese people in Indonesia increased rapidly during the time period and that poorer income groups exhibited the strongest growth of excess weight. Using the concentration index we find that prevalence of overweight and obesity affected increasingly poorer segments of Indonesian society. Third, decomposing the concentration index of excess weight in 2000 and 2014 for both sexes, our results suggest that most parts of the concentration index can be explained by the unequal distribution of living standards, sanitary conditions, the possession of vehicles, and home appliances. Finally, decomposing the change in the concentration index of excess weight from 2000 to 2014, we show that a large part of the change can be explained by the decrease in inequality in living standards, and improved sanitary conditions and better availability of home appliances in poorer households