Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Maldives
Maldives: Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight was 14.8% in 2017. ▼ Falling
Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Maldives, 1994–2017
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
The most recent figure for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Maldives is 14.8%, measured in 2017. That is the lowest value across all 6 years on record.
That represents a change of down 16.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Maldives peaked at 39.0% in 1995 and was at its lowest, 14.8%, in 2017.
Maldives ranks 33rd of 96 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 36.5% | 32.5% | 39.0% | 3 |
| 2000s | 21.7% | 17.7% | 25.7% | 2 |
| 2010s | 14.8% | 14.8% | 14.8% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Maldives
More reference data data for Maldives
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Consumer price index 150.41 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Competitive elections 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
- Elected parliament 1 (2025)
- Chief executive of the government is elected 1 (2025)
- Democracy 6 (2025)
- Civil liberties rating 5 (2025)
- Free country 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Maldives?
- Malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Maldives was 14.8% in 2017, 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 Maldives?
- The highest recorded value was 39.0% in 1995.
- What is the lowest malnutrition: share of children who are underweight recorded in Maldives?
- The lowest recorded value was 14.8% in 2017.
- How does Maldives rank for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight?
- Maldives ranks 33rd out of 96 countries with data for 2017.
- Is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight rising or falling in Maldives?
- Over the last ten years it is down 16.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Maldives 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 — 6 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.