Bangladesh vs Ethiopia: Malnutrition: Number of children who are underweight
Bangladesh
3.54 million underweight children
in 2022
Ethiopia
3.65 million underweight children
in 2019
Bangladesh rank
7th
Ethiopia rank
5th
Malnutrition: Number of children who are underweight over time
- Bangladesh
- Ethiopia
How they compare
Ethiopia currently reports 3.65 million underweight children against 3.54 million underweight children in Bangladesh, a difference of 117,190 underweight children.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 6 shared years of data; in 1992 it was Bangladesh ahead.
Bangladesh ranks 7th and Ethiopia ranks 5th of 96 countries.
Bangladesh has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Bangladesh | Ethiopia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 10.39 million underweight children | 4.29 million underweight children | 6.10 million underweight children | Bangladesh |
| 2000s | 7.38 million underweight children | 5.22 million underweight children | 2.17 million underweight children | Bangladesh |
| 2010s | 4.90 million underweight children | 4.10 million underweight children | 796,507 underweight children | Bangladesh |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher malnutrition: number of children who are underweight, Bangladesh or Ethiopia?
- Ethiopia, at 3.65 million underweight children against 3.54 million underweight children in Bangladesh as of 2019.
- What is the difference in malnutrition: number of children who are underweight between Bangladesh and Ethiopia?
- 117,190 underweight children, with Ethiopia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Bangladesh and Ethiopia?
- 6 years are reported by both, from 1992 to 2019.
- How do Bangladesh and Ethiopia rank globally for malnutrition: number of children who are underweight?
- Bangladesh ranks 7th and Ethiopia ranks 5th of 96 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Malnutrition: Number of children who are underweight. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
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.