Constructing Indices of Rural Living Standards in Northwestern Bangladesh.
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Date
2010-10
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Abstract
This study aimed to construct indices of living standards in rural Bangladesh that could be useful to study
health outcomes or identify target populations for poverty-alleviation programmes. The indices were constructed
using principal component analysis of data on household assets and house construction materials.
Their robustness and use was tested and found to be internally consistent and correlated with maternal and
infant health, nutritional and demographic indicators, and infant mortality. Indices derived from 9 or 10
household asset variables performed well; little was gained by adding more variables but problems emerged
if fewer variables were used. A ranking of the most informative assets from this rural, South Asian context
is provided. Living standards consistently and significantly improved over the six-year study period. It is
concluded that simple household socioeconomic data, collected under field conditions, can be used for
constructing reliable and useful indices of living standards in rural South Asian communities that can assist
in the assessment of health, quality of life, and capabilities of households and their members.
Description
Keywords
Health, Living standards, Socioeconomic status, Wealth index, Bangladesh
Citation
Gunnsteinsson Snaebjorn, Labrique Alain B, West Keith P, Jr, Christian Parul, Mehra Sucheta, Shamim Abu Ahmed, Rashid Mahbubur, Katz Joanne, Klemm Rolf D W. Constructing Indices of Rural Living Standards in Northwestern Bangladesh. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition. 2010 Oct; 28(5): 509-519.