What Can Child Anthropometry Reveal About Living Standards and Public Policy? An Illustration from Central Asia

The paper considers the case for the use of data on weight and height of children to assess living standards and public policy, contrasting them with monetized measures of welfare based on household incomes or expenditures. Data on child anthropometry are then used from Uzbekistan, the most populous of the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union, to investigate rural–urban differences in living standards, the impact of kindergartens on nutritional status, and the targeting of means-tested social assistance. Conclusions are drawn for the use of information on child anthropometry in the design of public policy.