Chapter 2 Target 2.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals: malnutrition
This section reports on four global nutrition indicators: stunting, wasting and overweight in children under 5 years of age, and anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years.
2.1 Stunting among children under 5 years of age
Although the region has made significant progress in reducing the prevalence of stunting among children under five years of age in the last two decades (from 28.5 percent in 2000 to 19.9 percent in 2020), Figure 10 shows that this declining trend slowed down in 2020. A marginal reverse trend was observed in 2022, especially in low-income countries in the region. Thus, the World Health Assembly (WHA) 2030 target of reducing the number of children under five years of age who are stunted with 40 percent compared to the 2012 baseline (WHO, 2025) may not be met in the Arab region, given the current reduction rate (UNICEF, 2025).
FIGURE 10.
Prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years of age in the Arab States by country income group
Note: The country income groups refer to countries of the Arab States (see Annex IV). Source: Based on UNICEF, WHO & World Bank. 2025. Levels and trends in child malnutrition: UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Group Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates. Key findings of the 2025 edition. New York, USA, Geneva, Switzerland; and Washington, DC. [Cited 4 April 2025]. https://data.unicef.org/resources/JME Download:https://doi.org/10.4060/cd7552en-fig10
TABLE 7.
Prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years of age (percent)
2000
2010
2012
2015
2020
2022
2024
World
33.1
27.9
26.4
24.6
22.4
22.6
23.2
Arab States
28.5
25.6
24.1
22.0
19.9
19.9
20.3
Low-income countries
40.4
37.7
36.7
36.4
35.2
35.3
35.8
Lower-middle-income countries
24.0
21.5
19.9
17.0
13.6
12.9
12.7
Upper-middle-income countries
25.1
19.1
17.0
14.3
10.4
9.6
9.2
High-income countries
10.3
10.8
10.6
10.3
9.5
9.4
9.4
Note: The country income groups refer to countries of the Arab States (see Annex IV). Source: Based on UNICEF, WHO & World Bank. 2025. Levels and trends in child malnutrition: UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Group Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates. Key findings of the 2025 edition. New York, USA, Geneva, Switzerland and Washington, DC. [Cited 4 April 2025]. https://data.unicef.org/resources/JME
The prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years of age among Arab States was high in low-income countries in 2024 (35.8 percent), especially those affected by conflict such as Yemen (47.4 percent), the Sudan (35.4 percent), and Somalia (23.9 percent). The prevalence in lower-middle-income Arab States was comparatively lower in the same year – 12.7 percent – although Djibouti and Mauritania both had prevalences exceeding 20 percent. The prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years of age was the lowest in upper-middle-income countries (9.2 percent) and in high-income countries (9.4 percent) (Table 7).
FIGURE 11.
Prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years of age in the Arab States by country income group and country
Note: The country income groups refer to countries of the Arab States (see Annex IV). Source: Based on UNICEF, WHO & World Bank. 2025. Levels and trends in child malnutrition: UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Group Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates. Key findings of the 2025 edition. New York, USA, Geneva, Switzerland and Washington, DC. [Cited 4 April 2025]. https://data.unicef.org/resources/JME Download:https://doi.org/10.4060/cd7552en-fig11
Stunting in children under five years of age is a largely irreversible outcome and is the result of poor maternal health and nutrition, inadequate infant and young child feeding practices, and repeated infections interacting with a variety of other factors over a sustained period (Al-Jawaldeh et al., 2020; Black et al., 2013). These factors, for instance, include household food insecurity, poor hygiene and inadequate sanitation, contaminated food and water that increase the risk of child infection, inadequate water supply, and poor maternal education (Black et al., 2008; Ghattas et al., 2020).
