The determinants of body mass in Greece: Evidence from the National Health Survey

In this study we explore the determinants of body-weight in Greece utilizing information at the individual level from the National Health Survey of 2009. BMI has been treated as both, a cardinal and an ordinal measure of body-weight, while different estimation techniques were applied (OLS, ordered probit and unconditional quantile regression). In our attempt to identify the major determinants of BMI outcomes in Greece we employed a wide range of demographic, socio-economic, lifestyle, health-related and regional characteristics. The unconditional quantile estimates uncovered differences in the estimated impact of several correlates across the BMI distribution, highlighting their superiority vis-a-vis the simple mean-based linear models of BMI. Examining the entire BMI distribution and targeting specific segments of the Greek population can render public health policies against obesity more efficient and prolific.