Abstract
Obesity poses a significant risk to population health. The aim of this minor dissertation is to explore the relationship between being ‘obese and overweight’ and subjective well-being (SWB) in South Africa. We also analyse this question for different geographical classifications, namely urban and traditional areas and farms1. Previous studies have investigated this relationship but, to the author’s knowledge, they did not analyse the relationship in different geographical areas. In South Africa there is a wide diversity of cultures, often also differentiated by the geographical areas they reside in. The research question is especially important as traditionally many of the cultures believe that obesity is a sign of wealth and beauty. In this minor dissertation the NIDS dataset, wave 5 (2018), is analysed. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Ordinal Logistic Regression (OLR) are used in the estimations. We found that being ‘obese and overweight’, rather than having a normal weight, increases the probability of higher levels of subjective well-being. If we divide the sample according to the geographical regions, we find the relationship holds in the urban areas, but not in the traditional and farm areas. This is interesting as in the traditional and farm areas we expected the relationship to be positive and significant and in the urban areas the opposite. However, in our results, controlling for demographic, social capital, education, and economic covariates, we find that being ‘obese and overweight’ does not warrant higher levels of life satisfaction than being of normal weight in traditional areas and on farms. Nonetheless, even if ‘obesity and overweight’ does not matter with regard to the life satisfaction of those in traditional and farm areas, it continues to pose a health risk. Policymakers should take cognisance of these results and campaigns should be launched in all geographical areas to inform people about the health risks of being ‘obese and overweight’.