Wasting in children — all countries

Wasting in children — Portugal

Wasting in children in Portugal in 2016 — 1.1%. Ranked 7 in the world out of 36.

2016 1.1%
World rank 7of 36
Period maximum 1.1%2016
Period minimum 1.1%2016

Trend over time

2016–2016 · % of children under 5

Change over the period: +0 pp

Comparison, 2016

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

Portugal 1.1%
World 7%
Wasting in children — Portugal, by year Portugal All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2016 1.1

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.