Prevalence of overweight, weight for height (% of children under 5) - Country Ranking - South America

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

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Argentina 13.60 2019
2 Paraguay 12.40 2016
3 Ecuador 11.70 2019
4 Uruguay 11.40 2018
5 Bolivia 10.10 2016
6 Chile 9.30 2014
7 Peru 8.10 2019
8 Venezuela 6.40 2009
8 Brazil 6.40 2007
10 Colombia 5.70 2016
11 Guyana 5.30 2014
12 Suriname 3.50 2018

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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