Influence of Socioeconomic Determinants on Undernourishment in South Asia: A Panel Cointegration Analysis

Background: Undernourishment is a major public health challenge worldwide, with severe economic consequences. If occurs in the first years of life, it may cause long-lasting effect, particularly regarding personal development and economic growth of the country. Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the influence of socioeconomic factors, particularly education and national income, on undernourishment in selected countries of South Asia. Methods: The annual panel data for 2001 to 2018 were analyzed using the vector error correction model (VECM) technique and the Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality test (TYGCT). Results: According to the results of the VECM, adult literacy has mixed effects on undernourishment in the short run, while in the long term, it is associated with significant improvements in undernourishment. There is a negative association between economic growth and undernourishment in the short term; while, it disappears in the long term. The TYGCT is designed to validate the findings of the VECM as well as to investigate their robustness. According to the findings of the TYGCT, adult literacy alone can both improve undernourishment and enhance economic growth. Conclusions: This study demonstrated a negative association between undernourishment and adult literacy rate in the long term; that is, higher literacy is associated with lower rates of undernourishment, which in turn results in improved community health. Adult literacy causes declined undernourishment and enhanced economic growth. Therefore, South Asian countries should incorporate appropriate interventions based on health and nutritional evidence in the curricula of schools to, firstly, gear up the nutritional awareness and, secondly, to strive redistribution of income among the relatively poor, which may reduce the undernourishment to a significant extent.