Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Jamaica
Jamaica: Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight was 2.5% in 2018. ▼ Falling
Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Jamaica, 1989–2018
Source: Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in % of children under 5.
Analysis
Jamaica recorded 2.5% for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in 2018.
The figure is down 43.2% on the previous year and up 4.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Jamaica peaked at 6.1% in 1993 and was at its lowest, 1.8%, in 2007.
Jamaica ranks 83rd of 96 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 22 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 5.8% | 5.8% | 5.8% | 1 |
| 1990s | 4.6% | 2.1% | 6.1% | 9 |
| 2000s | 3.2% | 1.8% | 4.8% | 7 |
| 2010s | 3.0% | 2.2% | 4.4% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Jamaica
More reference data data for Jamaica
- Temperature anomalies by month 0.9087 °C (2026)
- Spring temperature anomalies 0.4942 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 0.833 °C (2026)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies 0.994 °C (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 1.32 °C (2025)
- Consumer price index 233.16 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Democracy 7 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Jamaica?
- Malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Jamaica was 2.5% in 2018, according to Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest malnutrition: share of children who are underweight recorded in Jamaica?
- The highest recorded value was 6.1% in 1993.
- What is the lowest malnutrition: share of children who are underweight recorded in Jamaica?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.8% in 2007.
- How does Jamaica rank for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight?
- Jamaica ranks 83rd out of 96 countries with data for 2018.
- Is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight rising or falling in Jamaica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Jamaica data come from?
- The figures come from Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The share of children younger than five years old whose weight for age is more than two standard deviations below the median for the international reference population for ages 0-59 months.