Child nutrition statistics show several challenges at once: undernutrition remains widespread globally, while overweight and obesity affect millions of children. In the United States, food insecurity, nutrition-program participation, infant feeding, and school meals provide additional measures of how children access food and nourishment.
Contents
- Global child malnutrition
- Undernutrition and geography
- Childhood obesity in the United States
- Food insecurity and WIC participation
- Breastfeeding and infant feeding
- School breakfast and lunch programs
Global child malnutrition
The WHO Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates reported that 150.2 million children under age 5 were stunted in 2024. Stunting describes impaired growth associated with chronic or recurrent undernutrition. The same estimates put the global prevalence of stunting at 23.2% of children under age 5.
Wasting, a measure associated with low weight for height, affected 42.8 million children under age 5 in 2024. That represented 6.6% of children in this age group. Severe wasting affected 12.2 million children, or 1.9% of children under age 5.
Overweight affected 35.5 million children under age 5 in 2024, equal to 5.5% of the age group. These figures describe different forms of malnutrition; they should not be added together because the measures and children represented can overlap.
The WHO Malnutrition fact sheet reported that nearly half of deaths among children under age 5 are linked to undernutrition. For an earlier reference period, the same fact sheet reported 149 million stunted children under age 5 in 2022, 45 million wasted children, and 37 million children who were overweight or living with obesity. These 2022 figures are historical estimates and are not interchangeable with the 2024 Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates.
| Measure | Estimate | Reference period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stunted children under age 5 | 150.2 million | 2024 | WHO Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates |
| Wasted children under age 5 | 42.8 million | 2024 | WHO Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates |
| Children with severe wasting | 12.2 million | 2024 | WHO Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates |
| Overweight children under age 5 | 35.5 million | 2024 | WHO Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates |
Undernutrition and geography
The 2024 WHO Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates show that the global distribution of stunting is concentrated in Asia and Africa. More than half of the world’s stunted children under age 5 lived in Asia, which accounted for 51% of the global share. Africa accounted for about 43%.
Severe wasting had a different geographic pattern. More than three-quarters of children with severe wasting lived in Asia in 2024, while another 22% lived in Africa. The distribution emphasizes why global totals need geographic context: the burden of one measure of malnutrition is not necessarily distributed in the same way as another.
Progress toward international targets also remains uneven. Just 1 in 6 countries were on track to meet the 2030 target for overweight among children under age 5. The world was projected to miss the 2030 target for reducing the number of stunted children by 46.0 million children. This is a projection, not a count of additional children already measured in 2024.
Taken together, the estimates describe a broad nutrition transition. Children may face inadequate growth, acute weight loss, or excess weight in different settings and at different times. The WHO figures therefore support tracking several indicators rather than using a single measure as a complete description of child nutrition.
Childhood obesity in the United States
CDC Childhood Obesity Facts reported that 19.7% of U.S. children and adolescents ages 2–19 had obesity from 2017 to March 2020. That represented about 14.7 million U.S. youths ages 2–19. Within age groups, obesity prevalence was 12.7% among children ages 2–5, 20.7% among children ages 6–11, and 22.2% among adolescents ages 12–19 during the same period.
The CDC also reported differences by race and ethnicity: prevalence was 26.2% among Hispanic children, 24.8% among non-Hispanic Black children, 16.6% among non-Hispanic White children, and 9.0% among non-Hispanic Asian children. By family income relative to the Federal Poverty Level, prevalence was 25.8% among children in families at or below 130%, 21.2% among children in families at 130% to 350%, and 11.5% among children in families above 350%.
The CDC estimated annual medical costs of obesity among U.S. children at $1.3 billion in 2019 dollars. Children with obesity had medical costs $116 higher per person per year than children with healthy weight, while children with severe obesity had costs $310 higher per person per year.
More recent CDC NCHS Health E-Stat 112 figures covered August 2021 to August 2023. In that period, 21.1% of U.S. children and adolescents ages 2–19 had obesity, 7.0% had severe obesity, and 15.1% were overweight. The different periods should be kept separate when comparing estimates.
The longer CDC NCHS series reported overweight prevalence of 10.2%, obesity prevalence of 5.2%, and severe obesity prevalence of 1.0% in 1971–1974. In 2003–2004, the corresponding reported figures were 13.9%, 18.8%, and 17.4%. The table also reported obesity prevalence of 16.9% for boys and 17.2% for girls in 2011–2012, 18.5% overall in 2015–2016, and 19.3% overall in 2017–2018.
For 2021–2023, the same CDC table showed subgroup obesity estimates of 38.1%, 31.4%, 29.9%, 23.1%, and 15.7%. The supplied table identifies these as subgroup values but does not identify the subgroup labels here, so they should not be assigned to a particular demographic category.
Food insecurity and WIC participation
USDA Economic Research Service food-security statistics show that 17.9% of U.S. households with children were food insecure in 2023. That equaled 6.5 million households with children. In 9.0% of households with children, only adults were food insecure; in 8.9%, both children and adults were food insecure. About 1.0% of households with children had one or more children experience reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns.
Across all households, 47.4 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2023, including 12.2 million adults in households with very low food security. The USDA reported that 7.2 million children lived in food-insecure households in which children, along with adults, were food insecure. Another 841,000 children, or 1.2% of the Nation’s children, lived in households in which one or more children experienced very low food security.
USDA Food and Nutrition Service estimates for 2023 put the average monthly WIC-eligible population at 11.83 million. This included 7.626 million children and 1.797 million infants. Eligible children included 1.883 million 1-year-olds, 1.914 million 2-year-olds, 1.937 million 3-year-olds, and 1.892 million 4-year-olds.
Among WIC-eligible people, 56.1% participated in WIC in 2023. Participation was 82.3% among eligible infants and 47.9% among eligible children. By age, participation was 67.4% for 1-year-olds, 52.5% for 2-year-olds, 45.2% for 3-year-olds, and 26.9% for 4-year-olds.
Coverage also varied by location and program participation. The WIC-eligible population in metropolitan areas had a 61.1% coverage rate, compared with 24.0% in nonmetropolitan areas. Among eligible Medicaid participants, 32.0% participated in WIC; among eligible SNAP participants, 57.6% participated. The table reported 47.4% coverage for the total WIC-eligible population in its population base, while 10.21 million eligible individuals lived in metropolitan areas.
Breastfeeding and infant feeding
CDC NIS-Child Data Results for infants born in 2022 reported that 85.7% were breastfed at birth. Exclusive breastfeeding declined across the first six months: 62.4% at 7 days, 60.3% at 14 days, 58.3% at 21 days, 57.5% at 1 month, 52.0% at 2 months, 47.6% at 3 months, 40.9% at 4 months, 33.7% at 5 months, and 27.9% at 6 months.
The same CDC results reported that 54.1% of infants born in 2022 were breastfeeding at 7 months, 47.9% at 9 months, 40.8% at 12 months, and 19.2% at 18 months. Among breastfed infants born in 2022, 22.9% received formula supplementation before 2 days, 33.9% before 3 months, and 38.0% before 6 months.
These measures track different outcomes. Exclusive breastfeeding percentages refer to infants receiving only breast milk at specified ages, while breastfeeding percentages at 7, 9, 12, and 18 months indicate continued breastfeeding and do not describe exclusivity.
School breakfast and lunch programs
USDA ERS historical charts show the scale of school meal programs. Since 1975, the School Breakfast Program has served nearly 65 billion meals. It served about 2.4 billion breakfasts in fiscal year 2023, compared with about 1.8 billion in fiscal year 2020 during the pandemic disruption. The program provided 2.5 billion breakfasts in fiscal year 2022. About 85% of breakfasts were served free or at a reduced price on average during fiscal years 2017–2019.
The National School Lunch Program has served nearly 241 billion lunches since fiscal year 1969. It served 4.7 billion lunches in fiscal year 2023. About 56.4% of all lunches served since fiscal year 1969 were free or reduced-price. The free-or-reduced-price share rose from 15.1% in fiscal year 1969 to 74.1% in fiscal year 2019.
NSLP spending reached $15.8 billion in 2023 dollars in fiscal year 2023, compared with $1.3 billion in 2023 dollars in fiscal year 1969. These inflation-adjusted spending figures and meal counts describe the program’s scale across different fiscal years; they are not household food-budget estimates.