Obesity of women in Jordan - Prevalence and associated factors: Making a case for a comprehensive obesity policy
Sebastian Göllner & Zina Nimeh
#2014-079
This paper analyses the current burden of obesity in the female
population of Jordan on a national scale and examines the factors
associated with it. Demographics and Health Surveys (DHS) were used for
the years 2002, 2007 and 2009 covering a total of 23,197 women, 15-49
years of age, and variables including body mass index, age, governorate,
educational level, marital status and wealth index, among others were
investigated. The overall prevalence of obesity (body mass index, BMI ?
30) in Jordanian women was found to be 26.3 percent in 2002, 19.7
percent in 2007 and 28.2 percent in 2009. Multivariate analysis
demonstrated that being obese was significantly associated with
increasing age, being married and having only primary education. Apart
from age, the strength of these associations decreased from 2002 to 2009
which could point to a generalisation obesity epidemic, for all
population groups. This paper contributes to the increasing research on
obesity in Jordan, and confirms many findings of smaller studies, by
including a larger sample size and greater geographic coverage, on a
national scale. The contextual policy analysis reveals that the public
health efforts of the Jordanian government are relatively limited in
this area, and concludes by trying to make a case for a more
comprehensive approach in order to moderate the health impact of obesity
in Jordan.
Keywords: obesity, public health, Jordan
JEL Classification: I18, I15