Unequal opportunities in Chilean children according to county of residence

Abstract

This investigation had the objective to classify the Chilean counties according to risk due to adverse socioeconomic conditions. 307 of the 334 counties in the country were included in the study. Factor analysis was utilized as a statistical and tool which classified the total number of variables into 2 factors: SEC (socioeconomic), and BIO (biomedical). Both factors accounted for two-third of the total variability for selected variables. The results of the analysis were expressed in three ways: 1) Z-scores, using as the reference value the national mean for each factor; 2) SUMA scale, a scoring system based on the regression coefficients for each variable that classified the counties by vulnerability into five levels of risk: very high, high, medium, low and very low; 3) PUNTAJE scale, which was created multiplying the SUMA score by of the total number of the fourth term of number the total of children less than 6 years living in the country. The PUNTA JE scale had the advantage, over the other two, that evaluated not only the intensity of the risk but also the magnitude of vulnerable affected population.