Child Stunting and Land Degradation under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Evidence from 23 Developing Countries

Abstract

Child stunting and land degradation have received an increasing attention from scholars and practitioners. Both of them are also measured by indicators under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the research on the relationship between child stunting and land degradation is insufficient, especially with the perspective of SDGs. This article uses empirical data of 23 developing countries to explore the relationship between child stunting and land degradation, with the controlling of GDP per capita of the selected countries. Path analysis is added into the traditional OLS method. The results show that land degradation has little impact on child stunting in the selected developing countries, but socioeconomic status affect child stunting significantly. A number of explanations and implications are generated. In particular, several developing countries’ strong reliance on food importation may be a reason of why land degradation does not affect child stunting. The interactions between different SDGs are also noted.