Epidemiology

The State of the World’s Children published by UNICEF provides current information on the health and growth of children for every country, region, and for the world.[10]

Based on the data reported in 2021, among children 0-59 months:

  • Stunting, defined as the percentage of children <-2 SD from the median height-for-age of the WHO Child Growth Standards, is 22% globally, 3% for Western Europe, 3% for North America, 32% for sub-Saharan Africa, and 32% for South Asia.

  • Wasting, defined as the percentage of children <-2 SD from the median weight-for height of the WHO Child Growth Standards, is 7% globally, 0% for Western Europe, <1% for North America, 5% for sub-Saharan Africa, and 15% for South Asia.

Among school-age children (ages 5-19 years):

  • Thinness, defined as the percentage of children with BMI <-2 SD of the median according to WHO growth references, is 11% globally, 1% for Western Europe, 1% for North America, 7% for sub-Saharan Africa, and 25% for South Asia.

Although the Multi-country Growth Reference Study illustrates that under optimal conditions, children’s early growth does not differ across regions, these data reveal differing growth patterns across regions, likely associated with differing conditions, including dietary patterns.[11][12][13][14]

Population-based surveys have found that up to 50% of children with faltering growth are not identified by healthcare providers.[15] Although faltering growth is more common among children from low-income families than from middle-income families, it occurs in all segments of the population.[16] Poverty can affect children directly through lack of food, health care, and education, and indirectly through increased family stress, which may interfere with parents' ability to regularly provide nutritious meals and in a nurturing manner.[8] Food insecurity has been associated with hospitalisations, poor health, and developmental risk among infants, and with developmental, academic, and learning problems among school-age children.[17][18][19]​​ Children can experience poor growth in homes of any social class in cases of problematic parent-child relationships, parental psychopathology, family dysfunction, or organic pathology. The impact of such problems increases in the context of poverty. 

Use of this content is subject to our disclaimer