Explaining the Body Mass Index Gaps between Turkish Immigrants and Germans in West Germany 2002-2012: A Decomposition Analysis of Socio-Economic Causes

Abstract

Turkish people are the largest immigrant population in Germany. In this paper, we decompose body mass index (BMI) differences between Turkish immigrants and Germans in West Germany for both men and women. We focus on isolating the part of BMI differences that can be explained by differences in observed socioeconomic status, including age, education, income and occupational status, from the part attributable to differences in coefficients. Our results reveal that female Turkish immigrants are on average more obese than female Germans; however, there exists no significant difference in obesity prevalence between male Turkish immigrants and male Germans. Our results also indicate that differences in socioeconomic status between female Turkish immigrants and German native-borns explain significant parts of the obesity disparities between these two groups.