Latin America & Caribbean: Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Latin America & Caribbean's prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5) fell 0.01 percentage points on 2023 (from 0.28% to 0.27%).

Across the 23 yearly changes before that (2001 to 2023), the average change was −0.01 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.01 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly fall was 0.02 percentage points in 2002. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.00903 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 99% 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 0.24% for 2027. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2022 to 2024 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.01%, against 0.01% 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.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

Prevalence of severe wasting is the proportion of children under age 5 whose weight for height is more than three 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 25 values

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

• Kuwait — 0.9% (2023)

More health data for Latin America & Caribbean

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 6.69% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 7.19% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 72.33 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 21.36% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 75.28 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 22.95% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 147.6 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 22.14% (2025)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Latin America & Caribbean's prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5)?

0.27% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2000?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SH.SVR.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.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.