Does Race Matter? Children's Height in Brazil and South Africa

Sarah A. Burgard, University of California, Los Angeles

This paper examines race differences in child stunting in mid-1990s South Africa and Brazil, two multiracial societies with different histories of legal support for racial discrimination. Using data from nationally-representative household samples linked to community-level measures, the analysis shows that racial inequality in the distribution of socioeconomic resources across households and communities explains much of the racial difference in stunting in both countries. However, the results show that in South Africa nonwhite children are still at greater risk for growth faltering than white children even after these factors are controlled. The nature of socioeconomic and race differences in child growth are examined, and major determinants discussed. These findings suggest that while state-sanctioned racism may help to explain the greater racial inequality in stunting in South Africa as compared with Brazil, the eradication of nonwhite disadvantage will depend on changes in the same fundamental socioeconomic inequalities that characterize both nations.