The World Health Organization has just crunched data collected from national surveys in 139 countries to gauge the costs of poor nutrition across the globe. One set of statistics is especially disturbing. It shows that throughout the developing world, malnutrition has stunted the growth of one-third of the 179 million children there under age 5.
However, stunting rates vary widely by geography. WHO found that in 39 countries, the rate of stunting in children 5 and under was 40 percent. Among these nations, 22 are in Africa, seven in Southeast Asia, four each are in the eastern Mediterranean and west Pacific, and a single country each are in Europe and in the Americas.
Source: World Health Statistics 2007, released May 18, by the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, p. 13.
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