Prevalence of overweight, weight for height (% of children under 5) - Country Ranking - Africa
Definition: Prevalence of overweight children is the percentage of children under age 5 whose weight for height is more than two standard deviations above the median for the international reference population of the corresponding age as established by the WHO's new child growth standards released in 2006.
Source: UNICEF, WHO, World Bank: Joint child malnutrition estimates (JME). Aggregation is based on UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank harmonized dataset (adjusted, comparable data) and methodology.
See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison
| Rank | Country | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Libya | 29.60 | 2014 |
| 2 | Tunisia | 17.20 | 2018 |
| 3 | Egypt | 15.70 | 2014 |
| 4 | Algeria | 12.80 | 2019 |
| 5 | South Africa | 11.60 | 2017 |
| 6 | Cameroon | 11.00 | 2018 |
| 7 | Morocco | 10.90 | 2017 |
| 8 | Comoros | 10.60 | 2012 |
| 9 | Seychelles | 10.20 | 2012 |
| 10 | Botswana | 10.00 | 2007 |
| 11 | Equatorial Guinea | 9.70 | 2011 |
| 12 | Eswatini | 9.00 | 2014 |
| 13 | Djibouti | 8.10 | 2012 |
| 14 | Gabon | 7.70 | 2012 |
| 15 | Mozambique | 7.00 | 2015 |
| 16 | Lesotho | 6.60 | 2018 |
| 17 | Mauritius | 6.50 | 1995 |
| 18 | Congo | 5.90 | 2014 |
| 19 | Guinea | 5.60 | 2018 |
| 19 | Rwanda | 5.60 | 2020 |
| 21 | Zambia | 5.20 | 2018 |
| 22 | Sierra Leone | 4.50 | 2019 |
| 22 | São Tomé and Principe | 4.50 | 2019 |
| 24 | Liberia | 4.40 | 2019 |
| 25 | Kenya | 4.10 | 2014 |
| 26 | Namibia | 4.00 | 2013 |
| 27 | Malawi | 3.80 | 2019 |
| 27 | Dem. Rep. Congo | 3.80 | 2017 |
| 29 | Uganda | 3.70 | 2016 |
| 30 | Angola | 3.40 | 2015 |
| 31 | Somalia | 3.00 | 2009 |
| 31 | Sudan | 3.00 | 2014 |
| 33 | Tanzania | 2.80 | 2018 |
| 33 | Burundi | 2.80 | 2019 |
| 35 | Zimbabwe | 2.50 | 2019 |
| 36 | Senegal | 2.30 | 2019 |
| 36 | Chad | 2.30 | 2019 |
| 38 | Guinea-Bissau | 2.20 | 2019 |
| 39 | The Gambia | 2.10 | 2020 |
| 39 | Eritrea | 2.10 | 2010 |
| 39 | Ethiopia | 2.10 | 2019 |
| 42 | Benin | 1.90 | 2018 |
| 43 | Burkina Faso | 1.60 | 2019 |
| 43 | Nigeria | 1.60 | 2020 |
| 45 | Togo | 1.50 | 2017 |
| 45 | Central African Republic | 1.50 | 2019 |
| 45 | Côte d'Ivoire | 1.50 | 2016 |
| 45 | Mauritania | 1.50 | 2018 |
| 49 | Madagascar | 1.40 | 2018 |
| 49 | Niger | 1.40 | 2019 |
| 49 | Ghana | 1.40 | 2017 |
| 52 | Mali | 0.70 | 2019 |
More rankings: Africa | Asia | Central America & the Caribbean | Europe | Middle East | North America | Oceania | South America | World |
Aggregation method: Linear mixed-effect model estimates
Periodicity: Annual
General Comments: Estimates of overweight children are also from national survey data. Once considered only a high-income economy problem, overweight children have become a growing concern in developing countries. Research shows an association between childhood obesity and
