Short answers, pulled from the story.
Stunted growth, also known as stunting, refers to impaired growth and development in children resulting in a lower than average height for the child's age. Internationally, it is defined as a child whose height-for-age value falls at least two standard deviations below the median of the World Health Organization's Child Growth Standards, corresponding to the fifth percentile of the WHO 2006 growth reference population.
By 2022, approximately 148.1 million children under five years of age were stunted, representing about 22% of all children in that age group globally. More than 85% of the world's stunted children live in Asia and Africa. The global prevalence declined from 26.4% in 2012 to 23.2% in 2024.
The leading risk factors for stunting are fetal growth restriction, unimproved sanitation, and diarrheal illness. Poor maternal nutrition, unsafe drinking water, childhood infections, and inadequate complementary feeding also contribute. About 22% of stunting cases are attributed to environmental factors and 14% to child nutrition directly.
Stunting is largely irreversible if it occurs during the first 1,000 days from conception to a child's second birthday. Stunted children generally do not recover lost height. The effects are often long-lasting, including worse cognitive development and poorer health in adulthood.
Timor-Leste, Burundi, Niger, and Madagascar have the highest prevalence of stunting, with more than half of all children under five affected in each country. In 2022, the prevalence of child stunting was greater than 30% in 28 countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.
The most effective approaches combine improvements in sanitation, access to safe water, and diversity of calorie sources from food supplies. Country-level evidence shows that multisectoral strategies integrating health, nutrition, cash transfers, and female education can drive large reductions. Brazil cut its stunting rate from 37% in 1974 to 7.1% in 2007 through such an approach. Even when all existing nutrition interventions are optimally implemented, the Lancet series estimated they could reduce stunting at three years by only 36%.