Wasting in children — all countries

Wasting in children — Burkina Faso

Wasting in children in Burkina Faso in 2021 — 9.3%. Ranked 25 in the world out of 32. Since 1993, the indicator has fallen by 6.1 pp.

2021 9.3% +0.5 pp vs 2020
World rank 25of 32
Period maximum 15.5%1999
Period minimum 7.5%2016

Trend over time

1993–2021 · % of children under 5

Wasting in children — Burkina Faso, 1993–2021681012141619931996199920022005200820112014201720201993: 15.4%1999: 15.5%2009: 11.3%2010: 10.9%2011: 10.4%2012: 10.7%2013: 8.1%2014: 8.5%2015: 10.2%2016: 7.5%2017: 8.6%2018: 8.4%2019: 8.1%2020: 8.8%2021: 9.3%
Change over the period: −6.1 pp Annual average: -0.22 pp

Comparison, 2021

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso 9.3%
World 6.7%
Wasting in children — Burkina Faso, by year Burkina Faso All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2021 9.3 +0.5 pp
2020 8.8 +0.7 pp
2019 8.1 −0.3 pp
2018 8.4 −0.2 pp
2017 8.6 +1.1 pp
2016 7.5 −2.7 pp
2015 10.2 +1.7 pp
2014 8.5 +0.4 pp
2013 8.1 −2.6 pp
2012 10.7 +0.3 pp
2011 10.4 −0.5 pp
2010 10.9 −0.4 pp
2009 11.3
1999 15.5
1993 15.4

Western Africa, 2021

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

About the indicator

The share of children under five whose weight falls short of the WHO norm for their height by more than two standard deviations. Unlike stunting, wasting speaks of an acute shortage of nutrition or of a recent illness, and it is reversible: with normal feeding a child regains the weight. That is exactly why wasting serves as an indicator of a current crisis — drought, war, breaks in supply — and not of long-standing poverty.

Important: The data come from sample surveys, so the years are intermittent. The aggregate by group is weighted by the number of children aged 0–14.

Source: Global Health Observatory (WHO), license CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.