Table 2.

Prevalence of stunting among children aged under five years by background characteristics in Bangladesh

Background characteristics	2004 (%)	2017–18 (%)	Difference	p-value
Mother’s characteristics
Age at first birth
Less than 18 years	51.7	33.5	−18.2	< 0.001
18 years or more	47.0	28.6	−18.4	< 0.001
Educational status
Not educated	57.5	42.9	−14.6	< 0.001
Educated	45.2	29.8	−15.5	< 0.001
Working status
Not working	49.5	28.3	−21.2	< 0.001
Working	51.5	34.0	−17.6	< 0.001
Low BMI
No	45.6	29.0	−16.6	< 0.001
Yes	56.7	40.7	−16.0	< 0.001
Father’s characteristics
Educational status
Not educated	56.5	43.6	−12.9	< 0.001
Educated	45.4	28.5	−16.9	< 0.001
Working status
Not working	44.0	34.0	−10.0	< 0.001
Working	49.9	30.6	−19.3	< 0.001
Child’s characteristics
Children age (in months)
0–23	39.0	26.9	−12.0	< 0.001
23–47	58.6	36.1	−22.5	< 0.001
48–59	53.6	28.4	−25.2	< 0.001
Sex
Male	50.6	30.8	−19.8	< 0.001
Female	49.1	30.7	−18.4	< 0.001
Birth order
1	47.9	28.7	−19.1	< 0.001
2	45.5	28.5	−17.1	< 0.001
3	48.2	32.0	−16.2	< 0.001
4 and above	57.0	41.0	−16.1	< 0.001
Household characteristics
Protected water source
No	55.0	28.7	−26.3	< 0.001
Yes	49.7	31.1	−18.6	< 0.001
Improved toilet facility
No	56.9	34.3	−22.6	< 0.001
Yes	44.4	28.1	−16.3	< 0.001
Wealth Index
Poorest	60.8	40.3	−20.5	< 0.001
Poorer	54.5	37.3	−17.2	< 0.001
Middle	49.5	30.1	−19.4	< 0.001
Richer	47.6	26.7	−21.0	< 0.001
Richest	30.2	17.2	−13.0	< 0.001
Religion
Islam	50.4	30.9	−19.5	< 0.001
Others	43.5	28.8	−14.7	< 0.001
Residential status
Urban	44.2	25.3	−18.8	< 0.001
Rural	51.2	32.7	−18.6	< 0.001
Region
Barisal	55.3	32.8	−22.5	< 0.001
Chittagong	52.4	32.5	−19.9	< 0.001
Dhaka	51.3	27.9	−23.4	< 0.001
Khulna	40.6	25.6	−15.0	< 0.001
Rajshahi	47.2	30.6	−16.5	< 0.001
Sylhet	52.9	42.4	−10.5	< 0.001
Total	49.8	30.7	−19.1	< 0.001

p-value based on proportion test