Which has higher prevalence of stunting, height for age, Lesotho or Malawi?

Lesotho, at 35.6% against 35.5% in Malawi as of 2024.

How many years of comparable data are there for Lesotho and Malawi?

5 years are reported by both, from 1992 to 2018.

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 stunting, height for age (% of children under 5). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Lesotho vs Malawi: Prevalence of stunting, height for age

Lesotho

35.6%

in 2024

Malawi

35.5%

in 2020

Lesotho rank

13th

Malawi rank

14th

Prevalence of stunting, height for age over time

Lesotho
Malawi

How they compare

Lesotho currently reports 35.6% against 35.5% in Malawi, a difference of 0.1%.

Across all 5 years both countries report, Malawi has been ahead every year.

Lesotho ranks 13th and Malawi ranks 14th of 97 countries.

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

Head to head by decade

Decade	Lesotho	Malawi	Difference	Ahead
1990s	39.2%	55.4%	16.2%	Malawi
2000s	42.0%	50.6%	8.6%	Malawi
2010s	34.0%	40.7%	6.7%	Malawi

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher prevalence of stunting, height for age, Lesotho or Malawi?: Lesotho, at 35.6% against 35.5% in Malawi as of 2024.
What is the difference in prevalence of stunting, height for age between Lesotho and Malawi?: 0.1%, with Lesotho ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Lesotho and Malawi?: 5 years are reported by both, from 1992 to 2018.
How do Lesotho and Malawi rank globally for prevalence of stunting, height for age?: Lesotho ranks 13th and Malawi ranks 14th of 97 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 stunting, height for age (% 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

Lesotho vs Malawi: Prevalence of stunting, height for age. 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 15 September 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/compare/prevalence-of-stunting-height-for-age-percent-of-children-under-5/lesotho/malawi/

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-percent-of-children-under-5/lesotho/malawi/">Lesotho vs Malawi: Prevalence of stunting, height for age</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Prevalence of stunting, height for age (% 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: 97 places, 955 data points, 1984–2024
Last refreshed: 03 September 2026

Prevalence of stunting is the percentage of children 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.