Our World
in Data
Data

Share of pregnant women who have anemia

What you should know about this indicator

Prevalence of anemia, pregnant women, is the percentage of pregnant women whose hemoglobin level is less than 110 grams per liter at sea level.

Limitations and exceptions: Data should be used with caution because surveys differ in quality, coverage, age group interviewed, and treatment of missing values across countries and over time.

Data on anemia are compiled by the WHO based mainly on nationally representative surveys, which measure hemoglobin in the blood. WHO's hemoglobin thresholds are then used to determine anemia status based on age, sex, and physiological status.

Statistical concept and methodology: Anemia is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or their oxygen-carrying capacity is insufficient to meet physiologic needs, which vary by age, sex, altitude, smoking status, and pregnancy status. In its severe form it is associated with fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and drowsiness. Children under age 5 and pregnant women have the highest risk for anemia.

Source
Multiple sources compiled by World Bank (2024) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
May 20, 2024
Next expected update
May 2025
Date range
2000–2019
Unit
%

Related research and writing

A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Micronutrient Deficiency by Our World in Data

Micronutrient Deficiency

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser

Explore charts that include this data

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates.

Retrieved on
May 20, 2024
Retrieved from
https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037712/World-Development-Indicators
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI).

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Share of pregnant women who have anemia”. Our World in Data (2024). Data adapted from World Health Organization (via World Bank). Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-anemia-in-pregnant-women [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Multiple sources compiled by World Bank (2024) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

Multiple sources compiled by World Bank (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. “Share of pregnant women who have anemia” [dataset]. World Health Organization (via World Bank), “World Development Indicators” [original data]. Retrieved November 15, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-anemia-in-pregnant-women