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

Key figures

Since 1987 it is down 33.5 percentage points from 38.3% in 1987. The World Bank has no value for 18 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

Closest to China in the 2017 ranking

• Togo — 1st of 2: 23.8%

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 13 values

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

• Indonesia — 22% (2023)
• Mongolia — 8.8% (2023)
• Philippines — 26.7% (2021)
• Viet Nam — 18.2% (2023)

More health data for China

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 3.25% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 3.46% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 101.3 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 14.67% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 115.41 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 16.12% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 216.72 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 15.41% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, female (% of female population) — 5.41% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, male (% of male population)

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Questions people ask

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

4.8% in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1987?

It is down 33.5 percentage points from 38.3% in 1987. The highest value was 38.3% in 1987 and the lowest 4.8% in 2017.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, 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….

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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