Health
150 million children under five still stunted — UN
The United Nations on Tuesday disclosed that no fewer than 150 million children under five years of age are still stunted globally.
The UN disclosed this in its 2026 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, which also examines the cost of healthy diets.
The report was jointly authored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization.
Stunting, or being too short for one’s age, is defined as a height that is more than two standard deviations below the WHO’s child growth standards median.
WHO says childhood stunting is one of the most significant impediments to human development, adding that stunted children face lifelong challenges, including limited cognitive and physical development, reduced productivity, and poorer overall health.
But the UN report revealed slow progress on global nutrition targets.
“Only 30.8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months worldwide consume a minimally diverse diet and 150 million children under five years of age are still stunted,” the report read in part.
The report highlights that global progress on maternal and child nutrition remains insufficient to meet international commitments, including the 2030 nutrition targets.
It added that indicators such as child stunting, wasting, overweight, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding show only marginal improvements, and progress is too slow to meet the targets.
At the same time, it revealed that anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is worsening,
Aside from worsening anaemia, it added that the prevalence of adult obesity shows a steady increase – from 12.1 percent in 2012 to 16.2 percent in 2024 – contrary to the target of halting its rise by 2025.
On hunger, the report revealed that global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, demonstrating that progress is possible.
However, it clarified that the improvements remain fragile, unevenly distributed and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The report estimates that 7.8 percent of the global population faced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022, confirming a sustained, albeit slow, improvement.
“This means that around 645 million people were affected by hunger in 2025, representing a reduction of nearly 14 million compared to 2024 and 43 million compared to 2022,” the report added.
The SOFI report added that the average global cost of a healthy diet rose to 4.28 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day, up from 3.44 PPP dollars in 2021 and 2.94 PPP dollars in 2017.
While the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet has declined, it added that affordability worsened in Africa, with 66.6 percent of the population unable to afford a healthy diet in 2025.
“The work that lies ahead over the years to 2030 is immense. However, a world in which a healthy diet is no longer out of reach for nearly one in three people is a world worth building,” the report argues.
Reacting to the report, the UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell, said every child deserves the chance to grow and develop to their full potential, and this starts with access to nutritious, affordable food.
“This report is a stark reminder that food systems fail millions of children and families. Food, health, education, and social protection must go hand in hand to protect the most vulnerable children and women from global shocks,” Russel said.
On his part, the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, lamented that despite clear progress made in reducing hunger, a healthy diet still remains unaffordable for one in three people globally.
“Obesity is rising, and progress on maternal and child nutrition is stalling. But we know what works: policies that make healthy food the easy choice, promoting breastfeeding, front-of-pack labelling, taxing unhealthy products, and protecting children from harmful marketing. Healthy diets are not a luxury – they are the foundation of health and must be within everyone’s reach,” he said.
The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, said the report shows that progress is possible.
“Ending hunger and making healthy diets affordable requires political commitment, sustained investment, and enabling policies,” Donqyu said.
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