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Chapter 2 Sustainable Development Goal 2.2: Malnutrition

Key messages
  • In the ECA region in 2020, among children under 5, an estimated 7.3 percent were stunted, 1.9 percent wasted and 7.1 percent overweight. The prevalences of stunting and wasting were much lower than the world average (22 percent for stunting, 6.7 percent for wasting) and higher than the world average for overweight (5.7 percent). Progress was made towards 2030 targets on stunting and wasting, while childhood overweight was worsening.
  • In all subregions and in almost every ECA country, the prevalence of stunting declined continuously from 2015 to 2020. By 2020, in ECA as well as in all subregions, the prevalence of stunting was below the global average of 22 percent. Countries with a higher prevalence of stunting in 2020 in the region are Azerbaijan (16.3 percent), Ukraine (15.9 percent), Tajikistan (15.3 percent) and Kyrgyzstan (11.4 percent).
  • Among the ECA subregions, the prevalence of wasting is highest in the Western Balkans; the Caucasus and Central Asia also had a prevalence higher than the average of the ECA region. In all, 11 of the 17 countries already have recently met the 2030 target of reducing and maintaining childhood wasting to less than 3 percent, while Armenia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan still have a prevalence higher than 3 percent.
  • The regional prevalence of overweight among children under 5 was reduced significantly between 2010 and 2015 (from 10.4 percent to 8.5 percent) and between 2015 and 2020 (to 7.1 percent). Sixteen countries of the ECA region had a reduction from 2000 to 2020, including significant progress in Georgia and Uzbekistan.
  • The results of overweight for boys and girls aged 6-9 show that overweight among children in this age range for both genders is more common and severe than among children under 5. The prevalence of overweight among children aged 6-9 was 26.9 percent in 2015–17, compared with 7.1 percent for children under 5 in 2020.
  • The prevalence of anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 years has always been below the world average. However, the region is not making progress; except for slight variations in some years, the prevalence was 17.4 percent in 2000 and remained the same in 2019. In the Caucasus, the prevalence of anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 years was higher than the global average.