Epidemiology of malnutrition

Disability-adjusted life year for nutritional deficiencies per 100,000 inhabitants in 2002. Nutritional deficiencies included: protein-energy malnutrition, iodine deficiency, vitamin A deficiency, and iron deficiency anaemia.^[1]

  no data

  less than 150

  150-300

  300-450

  450-600

  600-750

  750-900

  900-1050

  1050-1200

  1200-1350

  1350-1500

  1500-1750

  more than 1750

There were 795 million undernourished people in the world in 2014, a decrease of 216 million since 1990,^[2] despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone—7 billion people—and could feed more than that—12 billion people.^[3]

The percentage of the population affected by undernutrition by country, according to United Nations statistics from 2012.

By country

The number of undernourished people (million) in 2010–2012 and 2014–2016 (projected). According to the FAO, these countries had 5 million or more undernourished people in 2001–2003 and in 2005–2007.^[7]

Note: This table measures "undernourishment", as defined by FAO, and represents the number of people consuming (on average for years 2010 to 2012) less than the minimum amount of food energy (measured in kilocalories per capita per day) necessary for the average person to stay in good health while performing light physical activity. It is a conservative indicator that does not take into account the extra needs of people performing extraneous physical activity, nor seasonal variations in food consumption or other sources of variability such as inter-individual differences in energy requirements. Malnutrition and undernourishment are cumulative or average situations, and not the work of a single day's food intake (or lack thereof). This table does not represent the number of people who "went to bed hungry today."

The below is a list of countries by percentage of population with undernourishment, as defined by the United Nations World Food Programme and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in its "The State of Food Insecurity in the World" 2009 report.

Ranking	Country	Percentage of population suffering from undernourishment in 1990-92	Percentage of population suffering from undernourishment in 2004-06
1	Congo, Democratic Republic of	29%	75%
2	Eritrea	67%	66%
3	Burundi	44%	63%
4	Haiti	63%	58%
5	Sierra Leone	45%	46%
6	Zambia	40%	45%
7	Angola	66%	44%
8	Ethiopia	71%	44%
9	Central African Republic	47%	41%
10	Rwanda	45%	40%
11	Zimbabwe	40%	39%
12	Chad	59%	38%
13	Liberia	30%	38%
14	Mozambique	59%	37%
15	Togo	45%	37%
16	Madagascar	32%	35%
17	Tanzania	28%	35%
18	Korea, Democratic Republic of	21%	32%
19	Yemen	30%	32%
20	Kenya	33%	30%
21	Malawi	45%	29%
22	Mongolia	30%	29%
23	Gambia	20%	29%
24	Niger	38%	28%
25	Bangladesh	36%	26%
26	Botswana	20%	26%
27	Tajikistan	34%	26%
28	Cambodia	38%	25%
29	Senegal	28%	25%
30	India	29%	24%
31	Azerbaijan	27%	25%
32	Bolivia	24%	23%
33	Cameroon	34%	23%
34	Pakistan	24%	22%
35	Congo, Republic of the	40%	21%
36	Dominican Republic	27%	21%
37	Nicaragua	52%	21%
38	Sri Lanka	27%	21%
39	Sudan	31%	20%
40	Benin	28%	19%
41	Laos	27%	19%
42	Namibia	29%	19%
43	Swaziland	12%	18%
44	Myanmar	44%	17%
45	Panama	18%	17%
46	Thailand	29%	17%
	Developing World	20%	16%
47	Guatemala	14%	16%
48	Indonesia	19%	16%
49	Nepal	21%	16%
50	Lesotho	15%	15%
51	Philippines	21%	15%
52	Uganda	19%	15%
53	Côte d'Ivoire	15%	14%
54	Ecuador	24%	13%
55	Peru	28%	13%
56	Vietnam	28%	13%
57	Uzbekistan	5%	13%
58	Honduras	19%	12%
59	Georgia	47%	12%
60	Paraguay	16%	12%
61	Venezuela	14%	12%
31	Armenia	43%	10%
63	China	15%	10%
64	Colombia	15%	10%
65	El Salvador	9%	10%
66	Mali	14%	10%
67	Trinidad and Tobago	11%	10%
68	Burkina Faso	14%	9%
69	Ghana	34%	8%
70	Nigeria	15%	8%
71	Suriname	11%	7%
72	Guyana	18%	6%
73	Mauritius	7%	6%
74	Turkmenistan	9%	6%
75	Jamaica	11%	5%
76	Algeria	<5%	<5%
77	Argentina	<5%	<5%
78	Brazil	6%	<5%
79	Chile	7%	<5%
80	Costa Rica	6%	<5%
81	Cuba	5%	<5%
82	Egypt	<5%	<5%
83	Gabon	5%	<5%
84	Iran	<5%	<5%
85	Jordan	<5%	<5%
86	Kazakhstan	<5%	<5%
87	Kyrgyzstan	9%	<5%
88	Kuwait	20%	<5%
89	Lebanon	<5%	<5%
90	Libya	<5%	<5%
91	Malaysia	<5%	<5%
92	Mexico	5%	<5%
93	Morocco	5%	<5%
94	Saudi Arabia	<5%	<5%
95	Syria	<5%	<5%
96	Tunisia	<5%	<5%

• Source: FAO: The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009
• Source: FAO Statistics Division
• Source: Nations World Food Programme - World Hunger Map

Middle East

Malnutrition rates in Iraq had risen from 19% before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28% four years later.^[8] By 2010, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, only 8% were malnourished. (See data above.)

South Asia

According to the Global Hunger Index, South Asia has the highest child malnutrition rate of world's regions.^[9] India, a largely vegetarian country and second largest country in the world by population, contributes most number in malnutrition in the region.The 2006 report mentioned that "the low status of women in South Asian countries and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children in the region" and was concerned that South Asia has "inadequate feeding and caring practices for young children".^[10]

30% children of India are underweight,^[11] one of the highest rates in the world and nearly double the rate of Sub-Saharan Africa.^[12]

Research on overcoming persistent under-nutrition published by the Institute of Development Studies, argues that the co-existence of India as an 'economic powerhouse' and home to one-third of the world's under-nourished children reflects a failure of the governance of nutrition: "A poor capacity to deliver the right services at the right time to the right populations, an inability to respond to citizens' needs and weak accountability are all features of weak nutrition governance."^[13] The research suggests that to make under-nutrition history in India the governance of nutrition needs to be strengthened and new research needs to focus on the politics and governance of nutrition. At the current rate of progress the MDG1 target for nutrition will only be reached in 2042 with severe consequences for human wellbeing and economic growth.^[13]

United States

Childhood malnutrition is generally thought of as being limited to developing countries, but although most malnutrition occurs there, it is also an ongoing presence in developed nations. For example, in the United States of America, one out of every six children is at risk of hunger. A study, based on 2005–2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department, shows that an estimated 3.5 million children under the age of five are at risk of hunger in the United States.^[14]

In developed countries, this persistent hunger problem is not due to lack of food or food programs, but is largely due to an underutilization of existing programs designed to address the issue, such as food stamps or school meals. Many citizens of rich countries such as the United States of America attach stigmas to food programs or otherwise discourage their use. In the USA, only 60% of those eligible for the food stamp program actually receive benefits.^[15]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2003, only 1 out of 200 U.S. households with children became so severely food insecure that any of the children went hungry even once during the year. A substantially larger proportion of these same households (3.8 percent) had adult members who were hungry at least one day during the year because of their households' inability to afford enough food.^[16]

References