Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height, female (% of children under 5) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Prevalence of severe wasting, female, is the proportion of girls under age 5 whose weight for height is more than three standard deviations below the median for the international reference population ages 0-59.

Source: World Health Organization, Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition. Country-level data are unadjusted data from national surveys, and thus may not be comparable across countries.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Djibouti 7.90 2012
2 Libya 5.10 2014
3 Comoros 4.70 2012
3 Egypt 4.70 2014
5 Somalia 4.00 2009
6 Sudan 3.80 2014
6 Chad 3.80 2019
8 Botswana 3.50 2007
8 Guinea 3.50 2018
10 Eritrea 3.40 2010
11 Equatorial Guinea 2.30 2011
12 Congo 2.20 2014
13 Dem. Rep. Congo 2.00 2017
13 Mauritania 2.00 2018
15 Niger 1.90 2019
16 Mozambique 1.70 2015
17 Mali 1.60 2019
17 Cameroon 1.60 2018
17 Namibia 1.60 2013
20 South Africa 1.40 2017
20 Zambia 1.40 2018
20 Guinea-Bissau 1.40 2019
23 Morocco 1.30 2017
24 Gabon 1.10 2012
25 Ghana 1.00 2017
25 Algeria 1.00 2019
25 Côte d'Ivoire 1.00 2016
25 Uganda 1.00 2016
25 Tunisia 1.00 2018
25 Senegal 1.00 2019
25 São Tomé and Principe 1.00 2019
32 Sierra Leone 0.90 2019
32 Togo 0.90 2017
32 Angola 0.90 2015
32 Nigeria 0.90 2020
32 Kenya 0.90 2014
37 Lesotho 0.80 2018
37 The Gambia 0.80 2020
37 Madagascar 0.80 2018
37 Burundi 0.80 2019
37 Benin 0.80 2018
37 Burkina Faso 0.80 2019
37 Ethiopia 0.80 2019
44 Central African Republic 0.60 2019
45 Liberia 0.40 2019
46 Rwanda 0.30 2020
46 Tanzania 0.30 2018
46 Zimbabwe 0.30 2019
49 Eswatini 0.20 2014
49 Malawi 0.20 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: Undernourished children have lower resistance to infection and are more likely to die from common childhood ailments such as diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections. Frequent illness saps the nutritional status of those who survive, locking them int