Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Vietnam
Vietnam: Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight was 9.7% in 2023. ▼ Falling
Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Vietnam, 1988–2023
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
Vietnam recorded 9.7% for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 27 years on record.
That represents a change of down 4.9% on the previous year and down 36.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Vietnam peaked at 40.7% in 1988 and was at its lowest, 9.7%, in 2023.
Vietnam ranks 49th of 96 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 27 years of available data.
Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Vietnam, year by year
| Year | % of children under 5 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 40.7% | — |
| 1993 | 36.6% | -10.1% |
| 1994 | 40.6% | +10.9% |
| 1998 | 35.8% | -11.8% |
| 1999 | 31.1% | -13.1% |
| 2000 | 26.6% | -14.5% |
| 2002 | 23.3% | -12.4% |
| 2003 | 24.6% | +5.6% |
| 2004 | 23.6% | -4.1% |
| 2005 | 22.8% | -3.4% |
| 2006 | 21.9% | -3.9% |
| 2007 | 21.6% | -1.4% |
| 2008 | 20.5% | -5.1% |
| 2009 | 17.5% | -14.6% |
| 2010 | 11.7% | -33.1% |
| 2011 | 16.8% | +43.6% |
| 2012 | 16.2% | -3.6% |
| 2013 | 15.3% | -5.6% |
| 2014 | 14.5% | -5.2% |
| 2015 | 14.1% | -2.8% |
| 2016 | 13.8% | -2.1% |
| 2017 | 13.4% | -2.9% |
| 2018 | 12.8% | -4.5% |
| 2019 | 12.2% | -4.7% |
| 2020 | 11.6% | -4.9% |
| 2022 | 10.2% | -12.1% |
| 2023 | 9.7% | -4.9% |
Vietnam compared with similar countries
- Vietnam's 9.7% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 4.0%, 2.4× the median. (26 countries reporting)
- Vietnam's 9.7% is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 15.3%, 63% of the median. (13 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Malnutrition: Share of children who are underweight in Vietnam changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | +43.6% | 11.7% | 16.8% |
| 2010 | -33.1% | 17.5% | 11.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 40.7% | 40.7% | 40.7% | 1 |
| 1990s | 36.0% | 31.1% | 40.6% | 4 |
| 2000s | 22.5% | 17.5% | 26.6% | 9 |
| 2010s | 14.1% | 11.7% | 16.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 10.5% | 9.7% | 11.6% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Vietnam
More reference data data for Vietnam
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 3.68 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 4.24 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 16.73 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 1.89 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 16.73 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 12.35 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 18.98 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 23.56 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 93.83 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 10.27 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Vietnam?
- Malnutrition: share of children who are underweight in Vietnam was 9.7% in 2023, 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 Vietnam?
- The highest recorded value was 40.7% in 1988.
- What is the lowest malnutrition: share of children who are underweight recorded in Vietnam?
- The lowest recorded value was 9.7% in 2023.
- How does Vietnam rank for malnutrition: share of children who are underweight?
- Vietnam ranks 49th out of 96 countries with data for 2023.
- Is malnutrition: share of children who are underweight rising or falling in Vietnam?
- Over the last ten years it is down 36.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Vietnam 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 — 27 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.