Table 1.

Descriptive characteristics of the sample of mothers (18–49 years) and their children (birth–5 years) from three waves of the Demographic and Health Survey/Encuesta Nacional de Salud (DHS/ENDS) in Colombia

	2000		2005		2010
	n or Mean	% or sd	n or Mean	% or sd	n or Mean	% or sd
Anthropometric typology
Normal	1182	41·1	3574	41·9	4301	39·3
Overweight	1090	38·5	3289	38·2	5085	45·3
Underweight	394	13·1	1158	13·0	1250	10·0
Dual burden	210	7·1	577	7·0	713	5·1
Maternal age
18–29 years	1843	59	5675	60	7017	61
30–39 years	1091	35	3196	34	3678	32
40–49 years	188	6	565	6	835	7
Wealth index quintile
Lowest	719	22	2367	25	3850	33
Second	774	24	2651	28	3131	27
Middle	732	22	2090	22	2230	19
Fourth	552	17	1420	15	1449	13
Highest	490	15	908	10	870	8
Area of residence
Urban	2272	70	6697	71	7522	65
Rural	995	30	2739	29	4008	35
Maternal education
No formal education	111	4	335	4	277	2
Elementary	2029	65	5458	58	6122	53
High school or more	982	31	3643	38	5131	45
Female head of household	681	21	2133	23	2966	26
Family type
Nuclear	1669	54	5372	57	6890	60
Extended	1453	46	4064	43	4640	40
Household size, mean and sd	5·5	2·3	5·3	2·1	5·1	1·8
Children <5 years, mean and sd	1·3	0·6	1·3	0·5	1·2	0·5
Food purchase decisions (mother)	–	–	–	–	8836	77
Food security
Secure	–	–	–	–	3895	34
Low insecurity	–	–	–	–	4628	40
Moderate insecurity	–	–	–	–	1885	16
Severe insecurity	–	–	–	–	1116	10
Indigenous household	–	–	–	–	1384	12
Participates in nutrition programme for children <5 years	–	–	–	–	5961	52

Data presented are n and % unless indicated otherwise.