A new joint report from UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank Group has raised alarms over a growing increase in child stunting across Africa.

According to the Joint Malnutrition Estimates 2025 Edition, Africa stands out as the only region where the number of stunted children has risen since 2012—growing from 61.7 million to 64.8 million—despite global strides in tackling child undernutrition.

Stunting refers to the hindered physical and cognitive development in children caused by poor nutrition, repeated illness, and lack of adequate stimulation. In simpler terms, it means a child is significantly shorter than expected for their age.

The report, which includes data from 2000 to 2024, emphasizes that proper nutrition is fundamental to a child’s health, growth, learning, and ability to contribute to society. However, malnutrition threatens these outcomes, often limiting a child’s future before it even begins.

Despite previous gains, child malnutrition remains a major global issue. Current statistics show:

150.2 million children under five suffer from stunting,

42.8 million are affected by wasting (with 12.2 million severely wasted), and

35.5 million are overweight.


The report notes a concerning slowdown in efforts to reduce stunting, while rates of wasting remain high and overweight prevalence remains unchanged. Less than a third of countries are on track to meet the 2030 targets for reducing stunting, and only 17% are progressing towards reducing childhood overweight.

Asia accounts for 51% of the world’s stunted children, and Africa follows with 43%. Alarmingly, Africa is the only region where stunting numbers have gone up since 2012.

Stunting affects not only physical growth but also brain development and long-term earning potential. Wasting, meanwhile, puts children at immediate risk of death. Without significant intervention, the world could lose the potential of an entire generation.

The report highlights the continued challenges in measuring progress, especially around wasting, due to data gaps. It calls for stronger and sustained action across multiple sectors, backed by reliable and timely data.

It also warns that current progress is insufficient to meet the 2025 global nutrition goals or the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.2, which aims to improve maternal and child nutrition.

Only 28% of countries are on course to halve child stunting by 2030, and 20% lack sufficient data to assess progress. Even fewer—just 17%—are on track to reduce childhood overweight to the target of 3% by 2030. For wasting, more than one-third of countries don’t have enough data to evaluate progress at all.

The report concludes that urgent and intensified efforts, along with better data collection, are essential to combat child malnutrition and meet global nutrition targets.