Characteristics and causes of malnutrition across Indian states: A cluster analysis based on Indian demographic and health survey data

Abstract

Good nutrition is an essential component of life. Undernutrition is the root cause of death of over 3.5 million children under the age of five in India. To address this issue of malnutrition, though overarching national policy is desirable, it may not be effective if the root cause of malnutrition varies across regions of the country. In this context, the attempt made in this paper is two-fold. First, weather the Indian States can be clustered on four anthropometric parameters of malnutrition. Second, whether the clusters formed thus, exhibit different explaining factors for malnutrition. The Indian-DHS (Demographic Health Survey) Data is used for the analysis. The results thus arrived would help policy-makers to have a targeted approach to malnutrition in different clusters of states.