Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in United States
United States: Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight was 0.4% in 2018. ▼ Falling
Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in United States, 1991–2018
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
The most recent figure for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in United States is 0.4%, measured in 2018. That is the lowest value across all 11 years on record.
That represents a change of down 71.4% on the previous year and down 42.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in United States peaked at 1.4% in 2016 and was at its lowest, 0.4%, in 2018.
That places United States 95th out of 96 countries with data for 2018, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 11 years of available data.
Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in United States, year by year
| Year | % of children under 5 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 0.8% | — |
| 2000 | 1.1% | +37.5% |
| 2002 | 0.8% | -27.3% |
| 2004 | 1.3% | +62.5% |
| 2006 | 0.7% | -46.2% |
| 2008 | 0.7% | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 1.0% | +42.9% |
| 2012 | 0.5% | -50.0% |
| 2014 | 0.7% | +40.0% |
| 2016 | 1.4% | +100.0% |
| 2018 | 0.4% | -71.4% |
United States compared with similar countries
- United States's 0.4% is below the median for high income countries, which is 2.8%, 14% of the median. (11 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 1 |
| 2000s | 0.9% | 0.7% | 1.3% | 5 |
| 2010s | 0.8% | 0.4% | 1.4% | 5 |
Countries ranked near United States
- 92 Turkey 1.5% compare
- 93 United Kingdom 0.6% compare
- 94 Chile 0.5% compare
- 95 South Korea 0.4% compare
More reference data data for United States
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 19.34 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 24.55 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 119.42 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 20.7 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 119.42 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 64.85 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 52.14 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 133.45 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 589.96 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 112.69 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in United States?
- Malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in United States was 0.4% 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 United States?
- The highest recorded value was 1.4% in 2016.
- What is the lowest malnutrition: share of children who are underweight recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.4% in 2018.
- How does United States rank for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight?
- United States ranks 95th out of 96 countries with data for 2018.
- Is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is down 42.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this United States 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 — 11 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.