Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Malawi
Malawi: Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight was 12.8% in 2020. ▼ Falling
Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Malawi, 1992–2020
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
Malawi recorded 12.8% for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in 2020.
That represents a change of up 18.5% on the previous year and down 7.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Malawi peaked at 26.5% in 1995 and was at its lowest, 10.8%, in 2019.
That places Malawi 36th out of 96 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 16 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 24.8% | 23.5% | 26.5% | 3 |
| 2000s | 17.8% | 11.7% | 21.7% | 5 |
| 2010s | 13.1% | 10.8% | 16.7% | 7 |
| 2020s | 12.8% | 12.8% | 12.8% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More reference data data for Malawi
- Spring temperature anomalies -0.0372 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 0.606 °C (2026)
- Temperature anomalies by month 0.3659 °C (2026)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 0.9529 °C (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies -0.5269 °C (2025)
- Consumer price index 1,313 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Competitive elections 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Malawi?
- Malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Malawi was 12.8% in 2020, 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 Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 26.5% in 1995.
- What is the lowest malnutrition: share of children who are underweight recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 10.8% in 2019.
- How does Malawi rank for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight?
- Malawi ranks 36th out of 96 countries with data for 2020.
- Is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is down 7.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malawi 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 — 16 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.