Malnutrition 101

Read United Against Malnutrition and Hunger’s briefing on malnutrition. It contains key facts and figures, and UAMH's recommendations to improve nutrition and food security.

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Need-to-know information:

What is malnutrition?
How is it defined?
What is the impact of malnutrition?
What causes it?

What are the solutions?

Malnutrition 101 explains nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions, and lists UAMH’s recommendations to improve nutrition and food security.

Need-to-know statistics:

Malnutrition – an entirely preventable and treatable condition – is the cause of 45% of deaths of children under five, claiming the lives of over two million each year. Yet it continues to receive less than 1% of ODA.
More than one billion adolescent girls and women worldwide suffer from undernutrition and there are 150 million more women and girls who are hungrier than men and boys.
According to the World Food Programme 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2023 – a worldwide increase of 24 million from 2022.
Yet in 2021, FCDO’s bilateral spending on ODA fell by more than 60%.

Find out more facts, key statistics, and further information by downloading the document.

Malnutrition 101 – Key Statistics and references:

Malnutrition is the cause of 45% of deaths of children under 5, [1] claiming the lives of over 2 million each year [2]. Yet it continues to receive less than 1% of ODA.[3]

More than 3 billion people (42% of the global population) can’t afford a healthy diet.[4]

A severely malnourished child is 11 times more likely to die from infectious diseases such as pneumonia than a well-nourished one.[5]

More than 1 billion adolescent girls and women worldwide suffer from undernutrition[6] and there are 150 million more women and girls who are hungrier than men and boys.[7]

50% of pregnant women globally suffer from anaemia[8] and 66% of non-pregnant women of reproductive age worldwide have micronutrient deficiencies.[9]

Despite wide acknowledgement that children get the best start in life when they are exclusively breastfed until six months of age and continue to breastfeed until at least two, only 41% of babies around the world are exclusively breastfed.[10]

According to the World Food Programme nearly 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2023 – a worldwide increase of 24 million from 2022.[11]
For every 1% increase in food insecurity, there is a 2% increase in migration.[12]

SDG two included a commitment to reduce ‘wasting’ to less than 3%. However, with wasting levels still at 7%,[13] the world is dangerously off track.

According to the Power of Nutrition, to achieve the SDGs, particularly the crucial Goal 2, the world needs an additional $US39 – 50bn per year. [14]

10. According to research compiled by the French Government, reducing malnutrition can raise gross domestic product (GDP) per capita by up to 11%.[15]

The Global Investment Framework for Nutrition called for an average annual increase of over $US2bn to meet the World Health Assembly targets on nutrition; however, in 2021, FCDO’s bilateral ODA spending on nutrition fell by more than 60%.[16]