In Graphs: Where India's Underweight Children Live

New Delhi: As many as 37% children in India are stunted, 5.6% ‘wasted’ and 15.93% underweight, as per a reply given by Savitri Thakur, junior minister in Union women and child development ministry.

As per the World Health Organization, a low weight for a given height is known as wasting. It indicates that the child has been facing undernutrition in recent times. Usually, one suffers extreme weight loss because of not eating enough food. It can also happen due to an infection due to which weight loss happens. A child can face serious complications from such a situation.

Lakshadweep has the highest proportion of children considered wasted (11.62%). The second and the third highest highest are Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

If a child has low weight-for-age, they are considered stunted. Unlike wasting, in which a child faces undernutrition from recent times, stunting happens if a child has not been fed enough food for a very long time, and has been facing chronic undernutrition. 

“It is the result of chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poor socioeconomic conditions, poor maternal health and nutrition, frequent illness, and/or inappropriate infant and young child feeding and care in early life. Stunting holds children back from reaching their physical and cognitive potential,” the WHO says. 

In Uttar Pradesh, 48.83% of children are stunted. This is the highest, followed by Lakshadweep and Jharkhand.

If a child is low weight-for-age, they are underweight. A child is underweight due to stunting, wasting or even both. In terms of this parameter Madhya Pradesh is highest, followed by Lakshadweep and Bihar.