Decomposing inequality in the incidence of obesity in Nigeria

This study examines the socioeconomic factors responsible for income and gender related inequalities in the prevalence of obesity in Nigeria. It uses the 2013 Demographic Health Survey (DHS) on Nigeria for all the analyses. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was used to identified and explained socioeconomics factors responsible for disparities in the incidence of obesity in the country. The decomposition results show that females are more likely to be obese than males while the rich are more likely to be obese than the poor. Endowment and coefficient effects contributed to the gender obesity while the coefficient and interaction effects contribute significantly to the gap due to differences in income levels. Finally, the study recommends awareness creation, indoor physical exercises, balance diet, public health education, cultural and value re-orientation and establishing gymnasium, especially for rich and female households, as solution to the problem of overweight and obesity in Nigeria. Keywords: Obesity; BMI; Overweight; Oaxaca-Blinder Decompositio