Afghanistan vs Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income): Prevalence of stunting, height for age, female

Afghanistan
41.4%
in 2024
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
29.8%
in 2024
Afghanistan rank
9th
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) rank
9th

Prevalence of stunting, height for age, female over time

  • Afghanistan
  • Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
0204060200020122024

How they compare

Afghanistan currently reports 41.4% against 29.8% in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), a difference of 11.6%.

That makes Afghanistan's figure about 1.4 times Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)'s.

Across all 25 years both countries report, Afghanistan has been ahead every year.

Afghanistan ranks 9th and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 9th of 162 countries.

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

Head to head by decade

Decade Afghanistan Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) Difference Ahead
2000s 51.1% 38.7% 12.4% Afghanistan
2010s 42.1% 32.3% 9.9% Afghanistan
2020s 40.6% 29.6% 11.0% Afghanistan

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher prevalence of stunting, height for age, female, Afghanistan or Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
Afghanistan, at 41.4% against 29.8% in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) as of 2024.
What is the difference in prevalence of stunting, height for age, female between Afghanistan and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
11.6%, with Afghanistan ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Afghanistan and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
25 years are reported by both, from 2000 to 2024.
How do Afghanistan and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) rank globally for prevalence of stunting, height for age, female?
Afghanistan ranks 9th and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 9th of 162 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), published as Prevalence of stunting, height for age, female (modeled estimate, % 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

Afghanistan vs Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income): Prevalence of stunting, height for age, female. Statizoid, drawing on Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Retrieved 18 September 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/compare/prevalence-of-stunting-height-for-age-female-modeled-estimate-percent-of-children-under-5/afghanistan/sub-saharan-africa-excluding-high-income/

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-stunting-height-for-age-female-modeled-estimate-percent-of-children-under-5/afghanistan/sub-saharan-africa-excluding-high-income/">Afghanistan vs Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income): Prevalence of stunting, height for age, female</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Prevalence of stunting, height for age, female (modeled estimate, % of children under 5)
Source
Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
207 places, 5,161 data points, 2000–2024
Last refreshed

Prevalence of stunting, female, is the percentage of girls under age 5 whose height for age is more than two standard deviations below the median for the international reference population ages 0-59 months. For children up to two years old height is measured by recumbent length. For older children height is measured by stature while standing. The data are based on the WHO's 2006 Child Growth Standards.