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Share of children who are stunted

UNICEF/WHO
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Hunger & UndernourishmentMicronutrient Deficiency

What you should know about this indicator

  • Stunting is when a child is significantly shorter than the average for their age.
  • Stunted growth is a consequence of poor nutrition and/or repeated infection.
  • These values are model estimates which account for sampling error around survey estimates and the data producer has made efforts to ensure the data is comparable over countries and time.
Learn more in the FAQs
Rationale

Child growth is an internationally accepted outcome reflecting child nutritional status. Child stunting refers to a child who is too short for his or her age and is the result of chronic or recurrent malnutrition. Stunting is a contributing risk factor to child mortality and is also a marker of inequalities in human development. Stunted children fail to reach their physical and cognitive potential. Child stunting is one of the World Health Assembly nutrition target indicators.

Definition

Prevalence of stunting (height-for-age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age

Method of measurement

Survey estimates are based on standardized methodology using the WHO Child Growth Standards as described elsewhere (Ref: Anthro software manual). Global and regional estimates are based on methodology outlined in UNICEF-WHO-The World Bank: Joint child malnutrition estimates - Levels and trends (UNICEF/WHO/WB 2021 edition).

Method of estimation

Data collection method UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank group jointly review new data sources to update the country level estimates. Each agency uses their existing mechanisms for obtaining data. For UNICEF, the cadre of dedicated data and monitoring specialists working at national, regional and international levels in 190 countries routinely provide technical support for the collection and analysis of nutrition data. UNICEF also relies on a data source catalogue that is regularly updated using data sources from catalogues of other international organizations and national statistics offices. This data collection is done in close collaboration with UNICEF regional offices with the purpose of ensuring that UNICEF global databases contain updated and internationally comparable data. The regional office staff work with country offices and local counterparts to ensure the most relevant data are shared. WHO data gathering strongly relies on the organization’s structure and network established over the past 30 years, since the creation of its global database, the WHO Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition, in the late 1980’s (de Onis et al. 2004). The World Bank Group provides estimates available through the Living Standard Measurement Surveys (LSMS) which usually requires re-analysis of datasets given that the LSMS reports often do not tabulate the child malnutrition data Method of computation National estimates from primary sources (e.g., from household surveys) used to generate the JME global estimates are based on standardized methodology using the WHO Child Growth Standards as described in Recommendations for data collection, analysis and reporting on anthropometric indicators in children under 5 years old (WHO/UNICEF 2019) and WHO Anthro Survey Analyser (WHO, 2019). The JME global estimates are generated using smoothing techniques and covariates (McLain et al. 2018) applied to quality-assured national data to derive trends and up-to-date estimates. Worldwide and regional estimates are derived as the respective country averages weighted by the countries’ under-five population estimates (UNPD-WPP latest available edition) using annual JME global estimates for 204 countries (UNICEF-WHO-World Bank 2020).

Share of children who are stunted
UNICEF/WHO
The share of children younger than five years old whose growth is stunted.
Source
UNICEF; World Health Organization; World Bank – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
January 3, 2024
Next expected update
January 2025
Date range
1990–2022
Unit
% of children under 5

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is stunting?

Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition. It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.1

A child is defined as ‘stunted’ if they are too short for their age. This indicates that their growth and development have been hindered.

Stunting is not just an issue during childhood. It affects both physical and cognitive development – impacts that can persist throughout someone’s life. There is some evidence to suggest that ‘catch-up growth’ is possible: that it is possible to reverse some of these impacts if environmental conditions significantly improve. But this is not always the case.

How is stunting measured?

Stunting is measured based on a child’s height relative to their age.

The World Health Organization (WHO) sets out global growth curves – these show the expected trajectory of a child’s growth from birth through to adulthood. Of course, we would not expect everyone to be exactly the same height – there is a range of factors, such as genetics, which influence our height and are not a reflection of poor health or malnutrition. These growth curves therefore span a range of heights.

We see these growth curves for boys and girls in the chart. The median growth curve is shown by the thick line. The ribbons around this median show the ‘acceptable’ range. This range is two standard deviations above and below the median.

A child whose height falls below the bottom of the ribbon – that is, two standard deviations below their expected height for their age – is defined as ‘stunted’.

In a population, the prevalence of stunting is defined as the share of children under five years old that fall two standard deviations below the expected height for their age.

To estimate the prevalence of stunting, researchers draw on household and demographic surveys, which include measurements of childhood growth, alongside official health data from governments that monitor child development.

What are the causes of stunting?

Stunting can occur throughout childhood, but is largely determined by a child’s “first 1,000 days”. This stretches from the period just before conception (meaning the nutritional status of mothers is very important) through to the child’s second birthday. This is when a child experiences its most rapid phase of growth and development.

Stunting occurs when a child does not have sufficient nutrition to grow and develop. This can be caused by a poor diet alone, but is often exacerbated by disease and poor health.

When a child is fighting poor health or disease, its nutritional requirements are often higher – it needs more energy and nutrients to not only grow, but to also fight infection. The absorption of nutrients might also be impacted. For example, if it experiences repeated bouts of diarrheal diseases – which are common in children – its ability to retain nutrients will be severely impacted.

Therefore, to prevent stunting we must ensure mothers have good nutrition and health prior to, and during, pregnancy; a child has access to a sufficient and nutritious diet; has access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to prevent infection; and has adequate treatment to recover quickly from disease and poor health.

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The GHO data repository is WHO's gateway to health-related statistics for its 194 Member States. It provides access to over 1000 indicators on priority health topics including mortality and burden of diseases, the Millennium Development Goals (child nutrition, child health, maternal and reproductive health, immunization, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected diseases, water and sanitation), non communicable diseases and risk factors, epidemic-prone diseases, health systems, environmental health, violence and injuries, equity among others.

Retrieved on
January 3, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/data/gho
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 Health Organization. 2024. Global Health Observatory data repository. http://www.who.int/gho/en/. Accessed on 2024-01-03

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Citations

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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 children who are stunted”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2023) - “Hunger and Undernourishment”. Data adapted from World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-children-younger-than-5-who-suffer-from-stunting [online resource]
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UNICEF; World Health Organization; World Bank – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

UNICEF; World Health Organization; World Bank – processed by Our World in Data. “Share of children who are stunted – UNICEF/WHO” [dataset]. World Health Organization, “Global Health Observatory” [original data]. Retrieved November 22, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-children-younger-than-5-who-suffer-from-stunting