Mind the Gap! Socioeconomic Determinants of the Stunting Urban-Rural Gap for Children in Colombia

Stunting (low height for age) is a crucial indicator for measuring child well-being and economic and social development of a country. Despite a decrease in overall children’s stunting in the last decades, there are still significant geographic disparities between urban and rural areas in Colombia. This paper aims to identify the role of the main determinants of children’s stunting in explaining the urban-rural stunting gap. We use data from the 2015 National Nutritional Situation Survey (the most recent available dataset) and the Yun’s statistical decomposition technique. We find that the urban-rural gap in child stunting is 7.2 percentage points. Three determinants: household wealth, maternal education, and health services utilization, explain most of the gap (92%). Each determinant explains 54%, 26%, and 12% of the characteristics effect, respectively. Public health policies aiming to reduce the gap must seek improvements in access to institutional delivery and education services for mothers in rural areas in the short term. In the long term, increasing economic wealth in rural areas is essential.