Percentage of children under 5 years affected by wasting (percent) — Value by country
The Suite of Food Security Indicators presents the core set of food security indicators. Following the recommendation of experts gathered in the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Round Table on hunger measurement, hosted at FAO headquarters in September 2011, an initial set of indicators aiming to capture...
What the numbers show
Percentage of children under 5 years affected by wasting (percent) — Value is currently reported for 72 countries. The highest value is 18.7 % in India; the lowest is 0.2 % in Republic of Korea.
The median across all reporting countries is 4.45 %, and the mean is 5.2 %.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 93.
Over the past decade 21 countries rose and 49 fell. The largest increase was in Mongolia (up 170.0%), and the largest decrease in Rwanda (down 62.1%).
Percentage of children under 5 years affected by wasting (percent): full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 18.7 % | 2020 | down 6.5% | falling |
| 2 | Yemen | 16.8 % | 2022 | up 26.3% | falling |
| 3 | Mauritania | 13.6 % | 2022 | up 16.2% | falling |
| 3 | Timor-Leste | 8.3 % | 2020 | down 56.1% | falling |
| 4 | Nigeria | 11.6 % | 2021 | up 13.7% | falling |
| 4 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 7.2 % | 2023 | down 11.1% | falling |
| 5 | Malaysia | 11 % | 2022 | up 35.8% | falling |
| 6 | Niger | 10.9 % | 2022 | down 18.7% | falling |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 10.7 % | 2022 | down 2.7% | falling |
| 7 | Viet Nam | 4.4 % | 2023 | down 33.3% | falling |
| 8 | Senegal | 10.2 % | 2023 | up 13.3% | falling |
| 9 | Cambodia | 9.6 % | 2021 | down 12.7% | falling |
| 10 | Burkina Faso | 9.3 % | 2021 | down 10.6% | falling |
| 10 | Sri Lanka | 9.3 % | 2024 | down 56.3% | falling |
| 12 | Indonesia | 8.4 % | 2023 | down 37.8% | falling |
| 13 | Benin | 8.3 % | 2021 | up 62.7% | falling |
| 14 | Burundi | 7.8 % | 2024 | down 2.5% | falling |
| 14 | Guinea-Bissau | 7.8 % | 2019 | up 62.5% | falling |
| 14 | Chad | 7.8 % | 2022 | down 52.1% | falling |
| 17 | Myanmar | 7.4 % | 2018 | down 6.3% | falling |
| 18 | Madagascar | 7.2 % | 2021 | up 26.3% | falling |
| 18 | Thailand | 7.2 % | 2022 | up 7.5% | rising |
| 20 | Nepal | 7 % | 2022 | down 37.5% | falling |
| 21 | Ethiopia | 6.8 % | 2019 | down 30.6% | falling |
| 22 | Guyana | 6.5 % | 2019 | up 18.2% | falling |
| 23 | Guinea | 6.4 % | 2022 | down 36.0% | falling |
| 23 | Tajikistan | 6.4 % | 2023 | down 35.4% | volatile |
| 25 | Sierra Leone | 6.3 % | 2021 | down 16.0% | falling |
| 26 | Ghana | 5.8 % | 2022 | down 6.5% | falling |
| 27 | Togo | 5.7 % | 2017 | down 5.0% | flat |
| 28 | Mali | 5.4 % | 2024 | down 58.8% | falling |
| 28 | Philippines | 5.4 % | 2021 | down 22.9% | falling |
| 30 | Central African Republic | 5.2 % | 2022 | down 29.7% | falling |
| 31 | Gambia | 5.1 % | 2020 | down 46.3% | falling |
| 31 | Zimbabwe | 5.1 % | 2024 | up 59.4% | falling |
| 33 | Haiti | 5 % | 2023 | down 20.6% | falling |
| 34 | Kenya | 4.5 % | 2022 | down 25.0% | falling |
| 35 | Cameroon | 4.3 % | 2018 | down 43.4% | falling |
| 36 | Saudi Arabia | 3.9 % | 2020 | down 9.3% | volatile |
| 37 | Mozambique | 3.8 % | 2022 | down 37.7% | falling |
| 38 | Azerbaijan | 3.5 % | 2023 | up 9.4% | falling |
| 38 | Kuwait | 3.5 % | 2023 | up 25.0% | flat |
| 40 | Liberia | 3.4 % | 2019 | down 20.9% | falling |
| 41 | Egypt | 3.3 % | 2021 | down 58.2% | falling |
| 41 | Russian Federation | 3.3 % | 2005 | down 32.7% | falling |
| 43 | Jamaica | 3.2 % | 2018 | up 28.0% | rising |
| 43 | Uganda | 3.2 % | 2022 | down 23.8% | falling |
| 45 | Iraq | 3 % | 2018 | down 48.3% | falling |
| 45 | Kyrgyzstan | 3 % | 2023 | up 7.1% | falling |
| 47 | Algeria | 2.7 % | 2019 | down 34.1% | volatile |
| 47 | Mongolia | 2.7 % | 2023 | up 170.0% | volatile |
| 49 | Malawi | 2.6 % | 2020 | down 35.0% | falling |
| 50 | Jordan | 2.3 % | 2023 | down 4.2% | falling |
| 51 | Dominican Republic | 2.2 % | 2019 | down 4.3% | rising |
| 51 | Nicaragua | 2.2 % | 2012 | down 4.3% | volatile |
| 53 | China | 1.9 % | 2017 | down 26.9% | falling |
| 53 | Honduras | 1.9 % | 2019 | up 35.7% | rising |
| 55 | Eswatini | 1.8 % | 2021 | up 125.0% | falling |
| 56 | Finland | 1.6 % | 2023 | up 33.3% | rising |
| 56 | Lesotho | 1.6 % | 2024 | down 42.9% | falling |
| 58 | Uruguay | 1.4 % | 2018 | unchanged | falling |
| 59 | Belarus | 1.3 % | 2023 | — | falling |
| 59 | Palestine, State of | 1.3 % | 2020 | down 60.6% | falling |
| 61 | Rwanda | 1.1 % | 2020 | down 62.1% | volatile |
| 62 | Mexico | 1 % | 2022 | down 37.5% | volatile |
| 63 | Guatemala | 0.8 % | 2021 | down 20.0% | volatile |
| 64 | Ecuador | 0.7 % | 2024 | down 56.2% | falling |
| 65 | Peru | 0.6 % | 2023 | up 50.0% | falling |
| 66 | Australia and New Zealand | 0.5 % | 2024 | up 66.7% | rising |
| 67 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 0.4 % | 2019 | down 20.0% | volatile |
| 68 | Chile | 0.3 % | 2014 | down 40.0% | falling |
| 69 | Republic of Korea | 0.2 % | 2020 | down 60.0% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Southern Asia 13.6 %
- Lao People's Democratic Republic 10.7 %
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 13 %
- Asia 9.1 %
- Lower-middle-income economies 9.5 %
- Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand 8.4 %
- Côte d'Ivoire 8.1 %
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 6.7 %
- South-Eastern Asia 7 %
- Middle Africa 5.5 %
- World 6.6 %
- Western Africa 6.5 %
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 4.1 %
- Low Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) 6.4 %
- Low-income economies 6.4 %
- Small island developing states (SIDS) 4 %
- United Republic of Tanzania 3.1 %
- Sub-Saharan Africa 5.5 %
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea 2.5 %
- Africa 5.4 %
- Northern Africa 5.2 %
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 5.2 %
- Eastern Africa 4.8 %
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 4.4 %
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 4 %
- Western Asia 3.5 %
- Southern Africa 3 %
- Caribbean 2.9 %
- Central Asia 2.1 %
- Upper-middle-income economies 2.1 %
- Eastern Asia 1.4 %
- South America 1.3 %
- Latin America and the Caribbean 1.3 %
- Central America 0.9 %
- High-income economies 0.4 %
- Northern America 0.2 %
- United States of America 0.1 %
About this data
The Suite of Food Security Indicators presents the core set of food security indicators. Following the recommendation of experts gathered in the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Round Table on hunger measurement, hosted at FAO headquarters in September 2011, an initial set of indicators aiming to capture various aspects of food insecurity is presented here. The choice of the indicators has been informed by expert judgement and the availability of data with sufficient coverage to enable comparisons across regions and over time. Many of these indicators are produced and published elsewhere by FAO and other international organizations. They are reported here in a single database with the aim of building a wide food security information system. More indicators will be added to this set as more data will become available. Indicators are classified along the four dimensions of food security -- availability, access, utilization and stability.