The double burden of malnutrition (DBM) has become an emerging public health issue in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aims to provide important evidence for the prevalence of different types of DBM at the national and subnational levels in Bangladesh.

The study utilised data from the latest Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2017–2018. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify the sociodemographic factors associated with DBM.

Nationally representative cross-sectional survey.

8697 mothers aged 15 to 49 years with <5 children.

The overall prevalence of the DBM was approximately 21 %, where the prevalence of overweight mother (OWM) & stunted child/wasted child/underweight child (SC/WC/UWC) and underweight mother (UWM) & overweight child (OWC) was 13·35 % and 7·69 %, respectively, with a higher prevalence among urban households (OWM & SC/WC/UWC = 14·22 %; UWM & OWC = 10·58 %) in Bangladesh. High inequality was observed among UWM & OWC dyads, concentration index (CI) = -0·2998, while low level of inequality of DBM were observed for OWM & SC (CI = 0·0153), OWM & WC (CI = 0·1165) and OWM & UWC (CI = 0·0135) dyads. We observed that the age and educational status of the mother, number of children, fathers’ occupation, size and wealth index of the household, and administrative division were significantly associated with all types of DBM.

Health policymakers, concerned authorities and various stakeholders should stress the prevalence of DBM issues and take necessary actions aimed at identifying and addressing the DBM in Bangladesh.

Improving the diet of the Scottish population has been a government focus in recent years. Population health is known to vary between geographies; therefore alongside trends and socio-economic inequalities in eating behaviour, geographic differences should also be monitored.

Eating behaviour data from the 2010 Scotland Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey were modelled using multilevel linear and logistic modelling.

Data were collected in schools across urban and rural Scotland.

Schoolchildren aged 15 years.

Adolescents living in remote rural Scotland had the highest consumption frequency of vegetables (on average consumed on 6·68 d/week) and the lowest consumption frequency of sweets and crisps (on 4·27 and 3·02 d/week, respectively). However, it was not in the major four cities of Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen) but in the geography described by the classification ‘other urban’ areas (large towns of between 10 000 and 125 000 residents) that adolescents had the poorest diet. Deprivation and rurality were independently associated with food consumption for all but fruit consumption. Sharing a family meal, dieting behaviour, food poverty and breakfast consumption did not differ by rurality. Variance at the school level was significant for fruit and vegetable consumption frequencies and for irregular breakfast consumption, regardless of rurality.

Young people from rural areas have a healthier diet than those living in urban areas. The eating behaviours examined did not explain these differences. Future research should investigate why urban–rural differences exist for consumption frequencies of ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ foods.