Burkina Faso: Prevalence of stunting, height for age (% of children under 5)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2021, Burkina Faso's prevalence of stunting, height for age (% of children under 5) rose 3.6 percentage points on 2020 (from 17.5% to 21.1%).

Across the 11 yearly changes before that (2010 to 2020), the average change was −1.6 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.88 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.8 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.8 percentage points in 2018 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.3 percentage points in 2020. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2012 to 2021 the straight-line trend is downward, about 1.51 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 83% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 14.61% for 2024. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2019 to 2021 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 2.24%, against 4.1% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

Closest to Burkina Faso in the 2021 ranking

• Madagascar — 1st of 5: 39.8%
• Nigeria — 2nd of 5: 33.8%
• Philippines — 3rd of 5: 26.7%
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 5th of 5: 12.8%

What this measures

Prevalence of stunting is the percentage of children under age 5 whose height for age is more than two standard deviations below the median for the international reference population ages 0-59 months. For children up to two years old height is measured by recumbent length. For older children height is measured by stature while standing. The data are based on the WHO's 2006 Child Growth Standards.

Limitations: Survey estimates come with levels of uncertainty due to both sampling error and non-sampling error (e.g., measurement technical error, recording error etc.,). None of the two sources of errors have been fully taken into account for deriving estimates neither at country nor at regional or worldwide levels.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a see sh.sta.stnt.me.zs for aggregation.

All 15 values

Prevalence of stunting, height for age (% of children under 5) in nearby economies

• Burundi — 52.8% (2024)
• Chad — 31.9% (2022)
• Ghana — 17.4% (2022)
• Kenya — 17.6% (2022)
• Madagascar — 39.8% (2021)
• Malawi — 35.5% (2020)
• Mali — 25.1% (2024)
• Mauritania — 25.1% (2022)
• Niger — 47.7% (2022)

More health data for Burkina Faso

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 13.81% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 14.33% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 4.88 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 40.41% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 5.03 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 41.94% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 9.91 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 41.17% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, female (% of female population) — 13.56% (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Burkina Faso's prevalence of stunting, height for age (% of children under 5)?

21.1% in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1993?

It is down 17.6 percentage points from 38.7% in 1993. The highest value was 41.4% in 1999 and the lowest 17.5% in 2020.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SH.STA.STNT.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: UNICEF, WHO, World Bank: Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME). Aggregation is based on UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank harmonized dataset (adjusted, comparable data) and methodology., UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), note: Aggregation is based on UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank harmonized dataset (a… Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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