NEW DELHI: Children from urban areas are globally known to be taller and heavier compared to their counterparts with rural backgrounds. But a latest study published in Nature shows that the trend is changing. The height and body mass index (BMI) difference is narrowing down considerably, and in rich countries, urban kids are even shorter than rural folks.
The change was spotted after an analysis of comprehensive data involving 71 million participants. The study noted that in 1990, urban adolescents (aged 5-19 years) were much taller than kids from rural areas. This trend was consistent in 200 countries.
However, by 2020, most countries saw that being narrowed except in some rich nations where urban children were even shorter and weighed less.
The gap between rural and urban kids, especially boys, was greater in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, said the study, ‘Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development.’
“Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa, they have amplified,” the exhaustive study said.
However, in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and some countries in Oceania, the gap between urban and rural boys increased the most in the last three decades. The rural boys in these regions continue to be shorter and lighter. This is an exception from other countries where this gap has narrowed.
“From 1990 to 2020, the BMI of successive cohorts of children and adolescents in both urban and rural areas increased in all but a few mostly high-income countries (like Denmark, Italy and Spain),” it said, adding, “there was heterogeneity in low-income and middle-income countries in how much the BMI increased in cities compared with rural areas.
In most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the BMI of successive cohorts of children and adolescents increased more in rural areas than in cities, leading to a closing of the urban-rural gap.
There is a need to evaluate how growth in formative ages may be affected both by social and economic policies, it said.
LOW HEIGHT MAY IMPAIR COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Past studies have shown that having low height and excessively low BMI increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Low height could impair cognitive development and reduce educational performance and work productivity in later life, the report said