North America - Prevalence of underweight, weight for age (% of children under 5)

Prevalence of underweight, weight for age (% of children under 5) in North America was 0.670 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 20 years was 0.890 in 2000, while its lowest value was 0.670 in 2020.

Definition: Prevalence of underweight children is the percentage of children under age 5 whose weight for age is more than two standard deviations below the median for the international reference population ages 0-59 months. The data are based on the WHO's 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:

Year Value
2000 0.890
2001 0.878
2002 0.866
2003 0.853
2004 0.841
2005 0.829
2006 0.818
2007 0.806
2008 0.795
2009 0.784
2010 0.773
2011 0.762
2012 0.751
2013 0.740
2014 0.730
2015 0.720
2016 0.709
2017 0.699
2018 0.690
2019 0.680
2020 0.670

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

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Nutrition