Table 1.
Background characteristics of the children
| Factors | Survey year 2014 | Survey year 2017/2018 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency | (%) | Frequency | (%) | |
| Mother's education | ||||
| No education | 1,010 | 15.3 | 521 | 7.1 |
| Primary | 1,823 | 27.6 | 2,098 | 28.5 |
| Secondary | 3,067 | 46.4 | 3,498 | 47.5 |
| Higher | 710 | 10.7 | 1,240 | 16.9 |
| Mother's working status | ||||
| Currently not working | 4,937 | 74.7 | 4,375 | 59.5 |
| Currently working | 1,673 | 25.3 | 2,982 | 40.5 |
| Mother's BMI | ||||
| Underweight | 1,506 | 22.8 | 1,108 | 15.0 |
| Normal | 3,825 | 57.9 | 4,339 | 59.0 |
| Overweight | 1,279 | 19.3 | 1,910 | 26.0 |
| Mother's religion | ||||
| Islam | 6,060 | 91.7 | 6,712 | 91.2 |
| Others | 550 | 8.3 | 645 | 8.8 |
| Children's age (in months) | ||||
| 0–11 | 1,335 | 20.2 | 1,694 | 23.1 |
| 12–23 | 1,392 | 21.1 | 1,525 | 20.7 |
| 24–35 | 1,334 | 20.2 | 1,404 | 19.1 |
| 36–47 | 1,280 | 19.4 | 1,311 | 17.8 |
| 48–59 | 1,269 | 19.2 | 1,423 | 19.3 |
| Sex of child | ||||
| Male | 3,413 | 51.6 | 3,858 | 52.4 |
| Female | 3,197 | 48.4 | 3,499 | 47.6 |
| Birth order | ||||
| First | 2,525 | 38.2 | 2,727 | 37.1 |
| Second | 1,998 | 30.2 | 2,431 | 33.0 |
| Third | 1,057 | 16.0 | 1,261 | 17.1 |
| Fourth and above | 1,030 | 15.6 | 938 | 12.8 |
| Size of child at birth a, b | ||||
| Normal/average | 3,812 | 93.9 | 1,784 | 38.6 |
| Small | 248 | 6.1 | 325 | 7.0 |
| Not weighted | 2,518 | 54.4 | ||
| Age of household head (in years) | ||||
| 15–34 | 2,361 | 35.7 | 2,465 | 33.5 |
| 35–54 | 2,810 | 42.5 | 3,101 | 42.2 |
| 55–74 | 1,233 | 18.6 | 1,583 | 21.5 |
| 75 and above | 206 | 3.2 | 208 | 2.8 |
| Sex of household head | ||||
| Male | 5,982 | 90.5 | 6,461 | 87.8 |
| Female | 628 | 9.5 | 896 | 12.2 |
| Television watching | ||||
| Not at all/do not know | 2,707 | 40.9 | 2,783 | 37.8 |
| Less than once a week | 598 | 9.1 | 658 | 9.0 |
| At least once a week | 3,305 | 50.0 | 3,916 | 53.2 |
| Wealth index c | ||||
| Poorest | 1,417 | 21.4 | 1,621 | 22.0 |
| Poorer | 1,231 | 18.6 | 1,476 | 20.1 |
| Middle | 1,308 | 19.8 | 1,325 | 18.0 |
| Richer | 1,366 | 20.7 | 1,479 | 20.1 |
| Richest | 1,288 | 19.5 | 1,456 | 19.8 |
| Place of residence | ||||
| Urban | 2,107 | 31.9 | 2,520 | 34.3 |
| Rural | 4,503 | 68.1 | 4,837 | 65.7 |
| Total | 6,610 | 100.0 | 7,357 | 100.0 |
a, n = 4,060 in BDHS 2014 and n = 4,627 in BDHS 2017/18
b, children born with less than 2500 g were considered as small
c, an aggregated index based on household assets