The Health Dividend of Urban Greenness: Impacts on Child Malnutrition and Mortality in India

Arjun Jana , International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Srinivas Goli, International Institute for Population Sciences
Ruchira Chakraborty, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

This study investigates the impact of urban green spaces on child nutritional health and mortality outcomes in Indian cities and towns. Using data from the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-4 and NFHS-5), we integrate high-resolution satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values based on survey locations. Employing probit regression on a pooled sample, we find that increased urban green cover significantly reduces the risk of stunting, wasting, underweight, and child mortality in urban India, after controlling for socio-economic and demographic factors. To ensure robustness, we conduct additional analyses using alternative greenness indicator, quadratic regression models, interactions of NDVI environmental variables, and instrumental variable regression. The results reveal a nonlinear relationship between NDVI and child health, where the benefits of greenness emerge only beyond a certain threshold. Additionally, environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation, and air pollution (PM2.5) interact with NDVI, sometimes lowering its positive effects. These findings highlight the potential of urban greening initiatives in reducing child malnutrition and mortality risks while emphasizing the need to consider climatic and pollution-related factors in urban health policies.

See paper

 Presented in Session P80. Flash Session Environment, Human Capital and Inequalities