# Data appendix

“ ” **Demographic, fertility and education variables** . _eduyrs_ is the number of completed years of education. “ _eduyrs>0_ ” is a dummy equal to one if the woman completed at least one year of education, zero otherwise. “ _wants more children_ ” is a dummy equal to one if the woman wants more children at the time of the survey, zero otherwise. “ _sterilized_ ” is a dummy equal to one if the woman has undergone female sterilization, zero otherwise (or if she is using another method of contraception). “ _ultrasound_ ” is a dummy equal to one if the woman has undergone an ultrasound test (zero otherwise), asked only with reference to the two most recent births in the last three years preceding the survey (NFHS 1998), and to any pregnancy in the last five years preceding the survey (NFHS 2005) (not asked in NFHS 1992). “ _ever had terminated pregnancy_ ” is a dummy equal to one if the woman ever had a pregnancy that terminated in a miscarriage, abortion, or still birth, zero otherwise. “ _spacing_ ” refers to the time interval between first and second birth and it is therefore available only for women who had at least two births.

“ ” **Health indicators** . _anemic_ is a dummy equal to one if the measured hemoglobin count is less than 12 grams per deciliter (less than 11 grams for pregnant women). “ _mild_ ” anemia refers to hemoglobin count between 10.0 and 11.9 grams per deciliter (10.0 and 10.9 for pregnant women). “ _moderate_ ” anemia refers to hemoglobin count between 7.0 and 9.9 grams per deciliter. “ _severe_ ” anemia refers to hemoglobin count less than 7.0 grams per deciliter. Appropriate adjustments in these cutoff points were made for women living at altitudes above 1,000 meters and women who smoke (NFHS data). Hemoglobin measurement is available for all women in NFHS 1998 and 2005 (not available in NFHS 1992). The body mass index (BMI) is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters and it is not available for currently pregnant women and those who gave birth in the two months preceding the survey. A value of the BMI lower than 18.5 is used to define chronic energy deficiency. Height measurement is in centimeters and women whose height is below 145 cm are considered to be of short stature. BMI and height are available only in NFHS 1998 and 2005.

**Spousal violence** . Spousal violence variables are based on a module of NFHS 2005 that collected detailed information on physical, sexual, and emotional violence perpetrated by husbands against their wives (based on women’s self-report). “ _any severe violence_ ” includes whether the spouse ever tried to strangle or burn, or ever threatened her with knife or gun. “ _any less severe violence_ ” includes whether the spouse ever pushed, slapped, punched, kicked or dragged her. “ _any emotional violence_ ” includes whether the husband ever said something to humiliate her in front of others, or threatened to hurt someone close to her, or insulted her. “ _any sexual violence_ ” includes whether the husband forced her to perform any unwanted sexual acts. Domestic violence variables available for all married women in NFHS 2005.

**Food consumption.** Food consumption variables are based on NFHS questions on frequency of consumption of certain food groups. The variables are dummies equal to one if the woman consumes the indicated type of food at least once a week. Food consumption is available for all women in NFHS 1998 and 2005 (not available in NFHS 1992).

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