Income or educational attainment: which is more effective in the fight against overweight? Evidence from Spain and Andalusia

Considered the epidemic of the 21st century by the WHO, obesity is a global problem that is on the rise and will continue to increase in the coming years. Spain and Andalusia, in particular, are no exception to this pathology, which has tripled since the 1970s, representing a public health challenge. The aim of this study is to analyse the socioeconomic determinants of this pathology, with special emphasis on answering the question of what has a greater influence on overweight, education level, or income. For this purpose, we have used the European Survey of Health in Spain (ESHS-2020), a microdata base, with a total of 22,072 valid individual observations (of which 2,820 belong to the Andalusian population). Results we obtain in our estimations of qualitative response models reveal that, although both income and educational attainment could be effective in the fight against overweight, the social gradient of this health problem is greater with respect to educational attainment. Additionally, there are many other variables and other factors related to the individual's overweight (mental health, subjective state of health, oral health, among others) which are much less explored and which must be considered in health policies to combat this disease.

Automated summary

Considered as the epidemic of the 21st century, obesity is a global problem that is on the rise and will continue to increase in the coming years, including in Spain and Andalusia. This study aims to analyze the socioeconomic determinants of obesity and determine whether education level or income has a greater influence on overweight. The results show that while both income and educational attainment can be effective in combating overweight, educational attainment has a greater social gradient in this health problem. Other variables and factors related to individual overweight, such as mental health and oral health, should also be considered in health policies to combat this disease.