Percent of children under 5 years with weight-for-height/length <2 standard deviations below (wasting) or >2 standard deviations above (overweight) the median weight-for-length/height

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Headline data

Percent of children ages 0 to 5 years with wasting (very low weight-for-length/height) in the US
Year Value
2000 0.5
2001 0.3
2003 0.7
2005 0.9
2007 0.6
2009 0.1
2011 0.3
2013 0.3
2015 0.4
2017 0.1

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Health Statistics/National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Geographical Area:

Unit of Measurement:

Footnote:

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from United States statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from American statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other American-specific metadata information.

Indicator

Percent of children under 5 years with weight-for-height/length <2 standard deviations below (wasting) or >2 standard deviations above (overweight) the median weight-for-length/height.
Organisation

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Health Statistics/National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Data sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Health Statistics/National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm
Data providers

Division of Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Comment and limitations

2.2.2 The reported estimates were derived by combining two years of NHANES data (e.g., 1999–2000). Data is also accessible for the COVID period (e.g., 2017–2020 = 0.0), wherein the computation was derived from a dataset spanning 3.2 years, deviating from the conventional two-year data cycle. The estimates for percent wasting and overweight met the NCHS standards for reliability and precision, and the confidence interval width for both estimates was less than 5 percent.
Method of computation

The NHANES data were merged with the expanded WHO growth chart files of weight-for-length/height for boys and girls by age. For the wasting estimate, the number of children 5 and younger with weight-for-length/height 2 or more standard deviations below the median weight-for-length/height was divided by the total number of children from birth through 5 years and the result was multiplied by 100. For the overweight estimate, the number of children with weight-for-length/height 2 or more standard deviations above the median weight-for-length/height was divided by the total number of children from birth through 5 years and the result was multiplied by 100. The numbers and resulting estimates are weighted to be nationally representative.
Date of national source publication

October, 2015
Periodicity

Biannually (every 2 years). E.g., 1999-2000… 2017-2018.
Date metadata updated

July, 2024
Time period

1999-2017

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator

Indicator 2.2.2: Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
Target

Target 2.2: by 2030 end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving by 2025 the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons
Organisation

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

World Health Organization (WHO)

World Bank (WB)
Definition and concepts

Definition:

Prevalence of wasting (weight for height <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age.

(French: pourcentage de émaciation (i.e. poids pour longueur/taille < -2 écarts-types par rapport à la médiane des normes de croissance de l'enfant de l'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS)) chez les enfants de moins de cinq ans; Spanish: porcentaje de emaciación (i.e. peso para longitud/estatura < -2 desviaciones estándar de la mediana de los estándares de crecimiento infantil de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS)) en niños y niñas menores de cinco años de edad.)

Concepts:

The official SDG indicator is wasting as assessed using weight for height. Wasting can however also be assessed with mid upper arm circumference (MUAC). Estimates of wasting based on MUAC are not considered for the JME joint database. In addition, while wasting constitutes the major form of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), there are acutely malnourished children who would not be picked up with weight-for-height or MUAC, namely those presenting bilateral pitting oedema (characterized by swollen feet, face and limbs). For surveys that report wasting including oedema cases, these are included in the prevalence of low weight-for-height in the JME database unless raw data are available for re-analysis.

Unit of measure

Proportion
Data sources

For the majority of countries, nationally representative household surveys constitute the data source. For a limited number of countries data from surveillance systems is used if sufficient population coverage is documented (about 80%). For both data sources, the child’s length/height and weight measurements have to be collected following recommended standard measuring techniques (WHO/UNICEF 2019).
Data providers

The majority of the data sources used are nationally representative household surveys (e.g., Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and National Nutrition Surveys (NNS)). Some data come from other sources (e.g., administrative, sentinel systems or national information systems).

Data providers vary and most commonly are ministries of health, national offices of statistics or national institutes of nutrition.
Comment and limitations

Survey estimates have uncertainty due to both sampling error and non-sampling error (e.g., measurement technical error, recording error etc.,). While non-sampling error cannot be accounted for or reviewed in full, when available, a data quality review of weight, height and age measurements data from household surveys supports compilation of a time series that is comparable across countries and over time. None of the two sources of errors have been fully taken into account for deriving estimates neither at country nor at regional or worldwide levels.

Surveys are carried out in a specific period of the year, usually over a few months. However, this indicator can be affected by seasonality, factors related to food availability (e.g., pre-harvest periods), disease (e.g., rainy season and diarrhoea, malaria, etc.), and natural disasters and conflicts. Hence, country-year estimates may not necessarily be comparable over time. Consequently, only latest estimates are provided.
Method of computation

Survey estimates are based on standardized methodology using the WHO Child Growth Standards as described in Recommendations for data collection, analysis and reporting on anthropometric indicators in children under 5 years old (WHO/UNICEF 2019) and WHO Anthro Survey Analyser (WHO, 2019). Worldwide and regional estimates are based on methodology described in UNICEF-WHO-The World Bank: Joint child malnutrition estimates - Levels and trends (UNICEF/WHO/WB 2012).

Metadata update

2024-07-29
International organisations(s) responsible for global monitoring

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

World Health Organization (WHO)

World Bank (WB)
Related indicators

Good nutrition lays the foundation for achieving many of the SDGs with improvements in nutrition directly supporting the achievement of SDG3 (ensuring healthy lives), while also playing a role in ending poverty (SDG1), ensuring quality education (SDG4), achieving gender equality (SDG5), promoting economic growth (SDG8), and reducing inequalities (SDG10). In this way, nutrition is the lifeblood of sustainable development, and drives the changes needed for a more sustainable and prosperous future.
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