We study the determinants of hemoglobin concentration in women over their life cycle and ask whether anemia during adolescence persists through adulthood. Using a panel of individuals from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), we find that although around 30 percent of our sample were anemic during any given survey wave, almost 65 percent were anemic at least once over the four survey waves, suggesting a high burden of anemia among Indonesian women. Furthermore, the high prevalence of anemia is not restricted to poor women; it is also observed among richer segments of the population. Using a dynamic panel framework, we find a significant relationship between current hemoglobin concentration and its measurement in the preceding survey wave, suggesting some persistence in anemia status across survey waves. However, a small autoregressive coefficient suggests that hemoglobin concentration, and in turn the likelihood of anemia, converges across women over time. Besides pregnancy status, we find only a few variables that are significant determinants of hemoglobin concentration. Among them, women’s wages in the community are positively associated with hemoglobin concentration.

JEL codes: I15