Household Food Consumption and Demand for Nutrients in Sri Lanka

Abstract

As people move away from nutritionally rich diets, the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has become one of the major challenges to the present world. However, the impact of NCDs on developing nations is more pronounced than that on developed nations. Sri Lanka, a lower-middle income developing country, is currently experiencing a rising incidence of NCDs. Close association between NCDs and unhealthy dietary habits infers the importance of studying household food and nutrient consumption in order to introduce sound policy implementations. Sri Lanka lacks national level studies related to food and nutrient consumption at household levels, thus the objective of this study is to analyze demographic and socio-economic determinants of consumption for major food commodities in Sri Lanka. Data are obtained from the latest household income and expenditure survey conducted by the Sri Lankan Department of Census and Statistics. Price and expenditure elasticities for food commodities are estimated using the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS). The zero-expenditure problem that typically exists in survey data is circumvented by employing a Tobit model. Analysis is further extended to calculate nutrient elasticities. The results of this study demonstrate the impact of price and income changes on dietary intake of households.