NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Regional overview of food security and nutrition 2021: Statistics and trends

3.3 Prevalence of low birthweight

The prevalence of low birthweight in the Arab region was 11.6 percent in 2015. This is lower than the global average of 14.6 percent. However, data is not available for nearly half (10 out of 22) of the Arab countries. The prevalence of low birthweight was highest in low-income economies, with 13.5 percent, followed by 11.4 percent in lower-middle-income economies, 9.9 percent in upper-middle-income economies and 9.1 percent in high-income economies. Conflict-affected countries had a higher prevalence of low birthweight, 12.3 percent, compared to non-conflict countries, 11.2 percent. When comparing data from the two most recent years, the prevalence of low birthweight has slightly declined in the region across all income levels and in conflict-affected as well as non-conflict countries. There has been progress in reducing low birthweight since the year 2000 in all Arab countries with available data, except in Bahrain where the prevalence has increased by 3.4 percentage points. Based on the latest estimates, the prevalence of low birthweight was highest in the Comoros with 23.6 percent, and the lowest was in Qatar with 7.3 percent.