India’s malnutrition crisis: 17% of children underweight, 36% stunted, 6% wasted, reports WCD | India News - Times of India

NEW DELHI: More than 50% children, under the age of 5, suffer from chronic malnutrition in India. Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, ...

NEW DELHI: More than 50% children, under the age of 5, suffer from chronic malnutrition in India. Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, women and child development minister Annapurna Devi citing the Poshan Tracker data for June said that, approximately 8.57 crore children under 6 years of age were measured, out of which about 17 per cent children were underweight, while 36 per cent were stunted and 6 per cent were wasted.
Stunted growth refers to children who are too short for their age, wasted refers to the children who are too thin for their height, and underweight children have low weight for their age, indicating both stunting and wasting.
Stunting, wasting, and being underweight are crucial indicators of either chronic or acute malnutrition in children.
As per the State data shared by WCD minister, Uttar Pradesh has the highest stunting rate of 46.36 per cent, followed by Lakshadweep at 46.31 per cent. Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh also report alarming stunting rates at 44.59 per cent and 41.61 per cent, respectively.
Wasting, an indicator of acute malnutrition, is most severe in Lakshadweep, affecting 13.22 percent of children. Bihar and Gujarat also report high rates of wasting at 9.81 percent and 9.16 percent, respectively. These elevated percentages indicate recent significant weight loss in children, often caused by insufficient food intake or illnesses.
In terms of underweight children, Madhya Pradesh leads with 26.21 per cent, followed by Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu at 26.41 per cent. Lakshadweep again shows a concerning rate of 23.25 per cent.
Meanwhile Goa, Sikkim and Ladakh reflect comparatively low malnutrition rates, more effective nutritional values, policies and overall better health conditions. Goa reports the lowest stunting rate at 5.84 per cent, wasting at 0.85 per cent, and underweight children at 2.18 per cent.

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