Sociodemographic characteristics of the study participants and prevalence of overweight and obesity across the independent variables, MDHS 2015–2016 (n=12 021)
| Variable | Frequency (%) | Body mass index (BMI) status (%) | χ2 | P value | ||
| BMI<23 kg/m2 | 23 kg/m2≥BMI <27.5 kg/m2 | BMI ≥27.5 kg/m2 | ||||
| Age group (years) | ||||||
| 15–24 | 3433 (28.6) | 82.4 | 14.3 | 3.3 | 173.9 | <0.0001* |
| 25–34 | 3504 (29.1) | 60.4 | 27.6 | 12.0 | ||
| 35–49 | 5084 (42.3) | 47.7 | 34.0 | 18.3 | ||
| Place of residence | ||||||
| Urban | 3505 (29.2) | 51.0 | 31.1 | 17.9 | 258.4 | <0.0001* |
| Rural | 8516 (70.8) | 65.6 | 24.6 | 9.8 | ||
| Region of residence | ||||||
| Kachin | 334 (2.8) | 54.6 | 30.0 | 15.4 | 240.1 | <0.0001* |
| Kayah | 60 (0.5) | 63.3 | 27.1 | 9.6 | ||
| Kayin | 274 (2.3) | 59.1 | 27.1 | 13.8 | ||
| Chin | 90 (0.8) | 71.7 | 23.9 | 4.4 | ||
| Sagaing | 1351 (11.3) | 58.7 | 27.7 | 13.6 | ||
| Taninthayi | 265 (2.2) | 57.0 | 28.6 | 14.4 | ||
| Bago | 1197 (9.9) | 64.5 | 25.9 | 9.6 | ||
| Magway | 1030 (8.6) | 67.7 | 24.0 | 8.3 | ||
| Mandalay | 1462 (12.2) | 64.2 | 25.4 | 10.5 | ||
| Mon | 432 (3.6) | 59.7 | 25.0 | 15.3 | ||
| Rakhine | 695 (5.8) | 75.3 | 19.2 | 5.5 | ||
| Yangon | 1822 (15.1) | 49.7 | 33.8 | 16.5 | ||
| Shan | 1216 (10.1) | 60.2 | 25.7 | 14.1 | ||
| Ayeyarwaddy | 1508 (12.5) | 64.8 | 23.3 | 11.8 | ||
| Naypyitaw | 285 (2.3) | 63.3 | 26.0 | 10.7 | ||
| Highest educational status | ||||||
| No formal education | 1485 (12.4) | 65.4 | 25.3 | 9.3 | 40.5 | 0.0003* |
| Primary | 4966 (41.3) | 59.8 | 27.6 | 12.6 | ||
| Secondary | 4345 (36.1) | 63.1 | 25.3 | 11.6 | ||
| Higher | 1225 (10.2) | 56.6 | 28.1 | 15.3 | ||
| Currently employed | ||||||
| Yes | 8184 (68.1) | 61.2 | 26.6 | 12.2 | 0.2 | 0.9348 |
| No | 3837 (32.9) | 61.6 | 26.4 | 12.0 | ||
| Wealth index | ||||||
| Poorest | 2052 (17.1) | 75.2 | 18.6 | 6.2 | 427.7 | <0.0001* |
| Poorer | 2252 (18.7) | 66.8 | 25.0 | 8.2 | ||
| Middle | 2509 (20.9) | 61.5 | 28.0 | 10.5 | ||
| Richer | 2533 (21.1) | 57.2 | 28.2 | 14.6 | ||
| Richest | 2675 (22.2) | 49.9 | 30.9 | 19.2 | ||
| Marital status | ||||||
| Single | 4191 (34.9) | 76.8 | 17.4 | 5.8 | 120.1 | <0.0001* |
| Currently married | 7021 (58.4) | 52.1 | 31.9 | 16.0 | ||
| Separated/divorced/widowed | 809 (6.7) | 61.1 | 27.4 | 11.5 | ||
| Parity | ||||||
| 0 | 5010 (41.7) | 75.2 | 18.4 | 6.4 | 759.6 | <0.0001* |
| 1 | 1844 (15.3) | 55.5 | 30.8 | 13.7 | ||
| 2 | 1903 (15.8) | 49.4 | 32.7 | 17.9 | ||
| 3 | 1405 (11.7) | 45.6 | 36.1 | 18.3 | ||
| >3 | 1859 (15.5) | 54.0 | 30.4 | 15.6 | ||
| Number of household members | ||||||
| ≤5 | 7402 (61.6) | 59.8 | 27.2 | 13.0 | 7.4 | <0.001* |
| >5 | 4620 (38.4) | 63.9 | 25.5 | 10.6 | ||
| Frequency of viewing television | ||||||
| Not at all | 2779 (23.1) | 67.2 | 24.5 | 8.3 | 89.7 | <0.001* |
| Less than once a week | 2015 (16.8) | 63.3 | 25.9 | 10.8 | ||
| At least once a week | 7227 (60.1) | 58.5 | 27.5 | 14.0 | ||
*p-value<0.05.