Table 1.

Summary statistics

	ST	SC	OBC	General
Height for Age z Score
25th percentile	−3.24	−3.22	−3.06	−2.76
50th percentile	−2.20	−2.21	−2.05	−1.77
75th percentile	−1.12	−1.18	−1.00	−0.74
SES Variables Used in Reweighting Decomposition
Dirt floor	0.80	0.72	0.61	0.55
Rudimentary floor (e.g., brick, stone)	0.05	0.03	0.05	0.05
Finished floor	0.11	0.18	0.25	0.32
Other floor typea	0.05	0.07	0.09	0.09
Mother has no education	0.70	0.64	0.58	0.33
Mother did not complete primary education	0.08	0.07	0.07	0.08
Mother completed primary education	0.04	0.07	0.08	0.07
Mother did not complete secondary education	0.15	0.19	0.23	0.36
Mother completed secondary education	0.01	0.01	0.02	0.05
Mother has higher education	0.01	0.01	0.02	0.04
Additional SES Variables Used in Regression
Electricity	0.41	0.45	0.50	0.58
Owns phone	0.01	0.04	0.07	0.12
Owns radio	0.18	0.22	0.28	0.36
Owns television	0.14	0.25	0.30	0.39
Owns refrigerator	0.02	0.03	0.05	0.13
Owns bicycle	0.44	0.54	0.60	0.57
Owns motorcycle	0.06	0.06	0.13	0.19
Owns car	0.01	0.00	0.01	0.02
Uses toilet or latrine	0.10	0.14	0.16	0.40
Owns land	0.67	0.44	0.66	0.63
Local Infrastructure Controls
Fraction of households in PSU with electricity	0.44	0.49	0.48	0.51
Fraction of births in PSU with prenatal care	0.71	0.72	0.69	0.76
Local Caste Composition Controls
Fraction of PSU that is SC	-	0.39	0.18	0.18
Fraction of PSU that is OBC	-	0.35	0.63	0.25
Fraction of PSU that is general caste	-	0.21	0.14	0.53
Demographic Controls
Number of household members	6.53	6.78	7.53	7.01
Birth order	3.17	3.01	2.90	2.64
Female	0.50	0.49	0.47	0.47
Lives with paternal grandparents	0.19	0.23	0.32	0.32
N	4,730	5,134	8,613	6,354

Notes: Statistics presented are means unless otherwise indicated. Observations are rural children whose heights were measured by the NFHS-3. Because averages are representative of children, they may differ from published India-wide summary statistics. ST = Scheduled Tribes. SC = Scheduled Castes. OBC = Other Backward Classes.

^aA floor type of “other” is also listed for children whose mothers were not interviewed in their permanent home. Most likely, these women were interviewed in their parents’ home.