How many years of comparable data are there for Laos and Sub-Saharan Africa?

6 years are reported by both, from 2000 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

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', published as Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Laos vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height

Laos

2.7%

in 2023

Sub-Saharan Africa

1.3%

in 2024

Laos rank

5th

Sub-Saharan Africa rank

8th

Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height over time

Laos
Sub-Saharan Africa

How they compare

Laos currently reports 2.7% against 1.3% in Sub-Saharan Africa, a difference of 1.4%.

That makes Laos's figure about 2.1 times Sub-Saharan Africa's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 6 shared years of data; in 2000 it was Laos ahead.

Laos ranks 5th and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 8th of 85 countries.

Laos has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Laos	Sub-Saharan Africa	Difference	Ahead
2000s	4.6%	2.8%	1.8%	Laos
2010s	2.3%	1.9%	0.4%	Laos
2020s	2.7%	1.4%	1.4%	Laos

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height, Laos or Sub-Saharan Africa?: Laos, at 2.7% against 1.3% in Sub-Saharan Africa as of 2023.
What is the difference in prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height between Laos and Sub-Saharan Africa?: 1.4%, with Laos ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Laos and Sub-Saharan Africa?: 6 years are reported by both, from 2000 to 2023.
How do Laos and Sub-Saharan Africa rank globally for prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height?: Laos ranks 5th and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 8th of 85 countries.
Where does this data come from?: 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', published as Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Laos vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height. Statizoid, drawing on 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'. Retrieved 18 September 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/compare/prevalence-of-severe-wasting-weight-for-height-percent-of-children-under-5/lao-pdr/sub-saharan-africa/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://health.statizoid.com/compare/prevalence-of-severe-wasting-weight-for-height-percent-of-children-under-5/lao-pdr/sub-saharan-africa/">Laos vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Prevalence of severe wasting, weight for height (% of children under 5)
Unit: % of children under 5
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'
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 99 places, 1,131 data points, 1986–2024
Last refreshed: 17 September 2026

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.