Finland: Prevalence of wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Finland's prevalence of wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5) did not change 0 percentage points on 2022 (from 1.6% to 1.6%).

Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2014 to 2022), the average change was +0.04 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.15 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.3 percentage points in 2021 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.2 percentage points in 2017. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.05 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 48% 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.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Finland in the 2023 ranking

• Viet Nam — 4th of 8: 4.4%
• Kuwait — 5th of 8: 3.5%
• Mongolia — 6th of 8: 2.7%
• Peru — 8th of 8: 0.6%

What this measures

Prevalence of wasting is the proportion of children under age 5 whose weight for height is more than two standard deviations below the median for the international reference population ages 0-59 months.

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. Surveys are carried out in a specific period of the year, usually over a few months. However, this indicator can be affected by seasonality, factors related to food availability (e.g., pre-harvest periods), disease (e.g.,rainy season and diarrhoea, malaria, etc.), and natural disasters and conflicts. Hence, country-year estimates may not necessarily be comparable over time.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a linear mixed-effect model estimates.

All 11 values

Prevalence of wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5) in nearby economies

• Tajikistan — 6.4% (2023)
• United Kingdom — 0.4% (2019)

More health data for Finland

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 3.99% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 4.29% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 395,095 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 13.84% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 414,045 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 14.83% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 809,141 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 14.33% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, female (% of female population) — 4.48% (2025)

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Questions people ask

What is Finland's prevalence of wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5)?

1.6% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2013?

It is up 0.4 percentage points from 1.2% in 2013. The highest value was 1.6% in 2022 and the lowest 1% in 2017.

Is the latest change in prevalence of wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5) unusual for Finland?

In 2023, Finland's prevalence of wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5) did not change 0 percentage points on 2022 (from 1.6% to 1.6%). Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2014 to 2022), the average change was +0.04 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.15 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SH.STA.WAST.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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