Understanding how gender inequality may affect children’s health: An empirical study across 161 countries

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the variables

	Mean	Minimum	Maximum	Std. Dev.
$\mathbf{GI}{\mathbf{I}}^{\mathbf{a}}$	0.34	0.03	0.8	0.19
$\mathbf{Immunizatio}{\mathbf{n}}^{\mathbf{b}}$	89	35	99	11.6
$\mathbf{Anemi}{\mathbf{a}}^{\mathbf{c}}$	32.2	6.1	79.5	18.1
$\mathbf{Crude}\mathbf{birth}\mathbf{rat}{\mathbf{e}}^{\mathbf{d}}$	19.2	5.9	45.6	9.57
$\mathbf{Neonatal}\mathbf{mortality}\mathbf{rat}{\mathbf{e}}^{\mathbf{e}}$	11.5	0.8	42.8	9.85

Note: a). The GII ranges between 0 and 1, where a lower level of GII indicates lower inequality between women and men.

b). The immunization coverage rate of infants is defined by WHO (2022) as the percentage of children aged 12–23 months who have received three doses of the combined diphtheria, tetanus toxoid and pertussis (DPT) vaccine in a given year.

c). The prevalence of anaemia among children aged 6–59 months is defined by the WHO (2022) as the percentage of children whose haemoglobin level is less than 110 grams per litter, adjusted for altitude.

d). According to WHO (2019), the crude birth rate is the number of live births happening amongst the population during a given year, per 1000.

e).Neonatal mortality rate is defined by the WHO (2022) as the number of deaths during the first 28 completed days of life per 1000 live births in a given year.

SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data from the UNDP and World Bank’s official website.

Table 2. Summary statistics for categorized GII, high, medium, low and very low

	High (≥ 0.674), N = 3	Mid (0.512–0.673), N = 34	Low (0.281–0.511), N = 63	Very Low (≤ 0.280), N = 61
GII	0.74 (0.05)	0.58 (0.05)	0.40 (0.06)	0.14 (0.07)
Immunization	52.7 (19.1)	82.2 (12.4)	89.3 (10.5)	94.2 (5.53)
Anemia	64.2 (16.5)	58.6 (11.9)	30.0 (10.4)	18.2 (4.78)
Crude birth rate	32.8 (7.85)	33.0 (5.41)	19.3 (5.23)	10.8 (2.96)
Neonatalmortality rate	27.3 (5.72)	26.0 (6.62)	11.1 (4.99)	3.09 (1.91)

Note: SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data from the UNDP and World Bank’s official website.

Table 3. Regression models for immunization rate, anemia, crude birth rate and neonatal mortality

Dependent variables	Predictor	β2	S.E.	P-value (Regression)	$R^2$
Immunization	GII	−83.10	9.556	0.000	33.29%
Anemia	GII	132.20	8.910	0.000	76.00%
Crude birth rate	GII	43.17	4.853	0.000	74.61%
Neonatal mortality	GII	60.52	4.416	0.000	79.91%

Note: SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data.

Figure 1. Association between GII and childhood immunization rate, prevalence of anemia, crude birth rate and neonatal mortality rate.

Note: SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data.

Figure 2. Association between GII and GDP per capita.

Note: SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data.

WHO, (2022). Immunization coverage. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/immunization-coverage. Accessed at 19 March. 2023.

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WHO, (2019). Anaemia in women and children. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/anaemia_in_women_and_children. Retrieved at March 19, 2023.

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