Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of

Korea, Democratic People's Republic of: Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted was 2.5% in 2017. ◆ Volatile

Latest (2017)
2.5%
World rank
72nd
of 99 countries
All-time high
20.8%
in 1998
All-time low
2.5%
in 2017
Years of data
7
1998–2017

Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, 1998–2017

051015201998200720171998: 20.8 % of children under 52000: 12.2 % of children under 52002: 8.7 % of children under 52004: 8.5 % of children under 52009: 5.2 % of children under 52012: 4 % of children under 52017: 2.5 % of children under 5

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

In 2017, malnutrition: share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of stood at 2.5%. That is the lowest value across all 7 years on record.

That represents a change of down 51.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, malnutrition: share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of peaked at 20.8% in 1998 and was at its lowest, 2.5%, in 2017.

That places Korea, Democratic People's Republic of 72nd out of 99 countries with data for 2017, putting it in the middle of the range.

Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, year by year

Annual values for Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, 1998 to 2017.
Year % of children under 5 Change
1998 20.8%
2000 12.2% -41.3%
2002 8.7% -28.7%
2004 8.5% -2.3%
2009 5.2% -38.8%
2012 4.0% -23.1%
2017 2.5% -37.5%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 20.8% 20.8% 20.8% 1
2000s 8.7% 5.2% 12.2% 4
2010s 3.2% 2.5% 4.0% 2

Countries ranked near Korea, Democratic People's Republic of

  1. 69 Algeria 2.7% compare
  2. 69 Mongolia 2.7% compare
  3. 71 Malawi 2.6% compare
  4. 73 Morocco 2.4% compare
  5. 73 Uzbekistan 2.4% compare
  6. 75 Jordan 2.3% compare

See the full ranking of 99 places →

More reference data data for Korea, Democratic People's Republic of

All data for Korea, Democratic People's Republic of →

Frequently asked questions

What is malnutrition: share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of?
Malnutrition: share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of was 2.5% 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 wasted recorded in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of?
The highest recorded value was 20.8% in 1998.
What is the lowest malnutrition: share of children who are wasted recorded in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of?
The lowest recorded value was 2.5% in 2017.
How does Korea, Democratic People's Republic of rank for malnutrition: share of children who are wasted?
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of ranks 72nd out of 99 countries with data for 2017.
Is malnutrition: share of children who are wasted rising or falling in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of?
Over the last ten years it is down 51.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
Where does this Korea, Democratic People's Republic of 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 wasted. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 7 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People's Republic of. Statizoid, drawing on Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Retrieved 02 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/share-of-children-with-a-weight-too-low-for-their-height-wasting/korea-dem-people-s-rep/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/share-of-children-with-a-weight-too-low-for-their-height-wasting/korea-dem-people-s-rep/">Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted in Korea, Democratic People&#x27;s Republic of</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Malnutrition: Share of children who are wasted
Unit
% of children under 5
Source
Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
99 places, 962 data points, 1984–2024
Last refreshed

The share of children younger than five years old that are defined as "wasted". Wasting is when a child’s weight is significantly lower than the average for their height, for example, because of acute food shortage or disease.