This repository contains data and code which allow to reproduce all analysis results presented in the article "The weight of culture: Societal individualism and flexibility explain large global variations in obesity" (Akaliyski et al., 2022), which is accessible here.
The script R/run_analysis.R produces all results and figures from the article, sourcing the functions defined in R/helper_functions.R. Readily produced results are already stored in the results folder. The data loaded into the script are in data/data_51countries.csv (data for main analysis) and data/data_190countries.csv (data for missingness analysis and imputations).
The following table explains all variables in the data file data_51countries.csv. Further details, summary statistics and sources concerning these variables can be found in the article.
| Column name | Explanation |
|---|---|
| country | Name of country |
| country_short | ISO-3 country code |
| region_wb | World Region according to the World Bank |
| obesity_m | Obesity rate (BMI ≥ 30) among male population |
| obesity_m | Obesity rate (BMI ≥ 30) among female population |
| overw_m | Overweight rate (BMI ≥ 25) among male population |
| overw_f | Overweight rate (BMI ≥ 25) among female population |
| BMI_m | Average BMI among male population |
| BMI_f | Average BMI among female population |
| flex | Flexibility (according to Minkov-Hofstede) |
| indiv | Individualism (according to Minkov-Hofstede) |
| yr_sch_m | Average years of schooling among male population |
| yr_sch_f | Average years of schooling among female population |
| globaliz | KOF Globalisation Index |
| uneven_eco_dev | E2: Uneven Economic Development Indicator (Fragile States Index) |
| gdppc_ln | Natural logarithm of GDP per capita in USD, PPP |
| undernourish | Undernourished population share |
| rice | Rice supply in kg/person/year |
| mcdonalds | Number of McDonald's restaurants per 100k |
| temp_avg | Average temperature 1961-1990 in degree Celcius |
| wgi_avg | Average of all Worldwide Governance Indicators |
| share_animal_prot | Share of animal protein in % of calories |
| vegies_fruits | Vegetables/fruit supply in kg/person/year |
| hf_efiscore | Economic Freedom Index (Heritage Foundation) |
| wdi_emp_agr_m | Employment share in agriculture among male population |
| wdi_emp_ind_m | Employment share in industry among male population |
| wdi_emp_ser_m | Employment share in services among male population |
| wdi_emp_agr_f | Employment share in agriculture among female population |
| wdi_emp_ind_f | Employment share in industry among female population |
| wdi_emp_ser_f | Employment share in services among female population |
| healthexp_perc_gdp | Health expenditure as % of GDP |
| wdi_popurb_share | Urban population share |
| wdi_smok_m | Smoking prevalence among male population |
| wdi_smok_f | Smoking prevalence among female population |
| indiv_welzel | Individualism (according to Beugelsdijk & Welzel) |
| self_expr_val | Self-expression values |
| emancip_val | Emancipative Values Index |
| autonomy | Autonomy values |
| indiv_hofstd | Individualism (according to Hofstede) |