India has not only maintained its position among countries with largest number of underweight men and women but also has jumped to a higher position among countries with largest increase in the proportion of overweight men and women in the last three decades. This coexistence of substantial number of undernourished and overweight and obese population is referred as double burden of malnutrition. India is among the
several middle income countries with a high prevalence of this double burden of malnutrition (DBM, henceforth). In the decade between 2005 and 2015, undernutrition rates fell from 34 percent to 20 percent among men and from 36 percent to 23 percent among women, while overweight/obesity rates increased from 9.3 percent to 19 percent among adult men and from 13 percent to 21 percent among adult women. The differences in quantitative estimates between the bottom and top quintile of BMI associated with life-style habits after controlling for their socioeconomic status, access to healthcare and demographic characteristics (like age, marital status, household size and composition) is an important objective of this study.
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