What is the difference in prevalence of underweight, weight for age between Democratic Republic of Congo and Sub-Saharan Africa?

9.3%, with Democratic Republic of Congo ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Democratic Republic of Congo and Sub-Saharan Africa?

6 years are reported by both, from 2001 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 underweight, weight for age (% of children under 5). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Democratic Republic of Congo vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of underweight, weight for age

Democratic Republic of Congo

25.0%

in 2023

Sub-Saharan Africa

15.7%

in 2024

Democratic Republic of Congo rank

6th

Sub-Saharan Africa rank

4th

Prevalence of underweight, weight for age over time

Democratic Republic of Congo
Sub-Saharan Africa

How they compare

Democratic Republic of Congo currently reports 25.0% against 15.7% in Sub-Saharan Africa, a difference of 9.3%.

That makes Democratic Republic of Congo's figure about 1.6 times Sub-Saharan Africa's.

Across all 6 years both countries report, Democratic Republic of Congo has been ahead every year.

Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 6th and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 4th of 96 countries.

Democratic Republic of Congo has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Democratic Republic of Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	Difference	Ahead
2000s	28.0%	23.1%	4.8%	Democratic Republic of Congo
2010s	23.6%	19.4%	4.1%	Democratic Republic of Congo
2020s	25.0%	16.1%	8.9%	Democratic Republic of Congo

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher prevalence of underweight, weight for age, Democratic Republic of Congo or Sub-Saharan Africa?: Democratic Republic of Congo, at 25.0% against 15.7% in Sub-Saharan Africa as of 2023.
What is the difference in prevalence of underweight, weight for age between Democratic Republic of Congo and Sub-Saharan Africa?: 9.3%, with Democratic Republic of Congo ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Democratic Republic of Congo and Sub-Saharan Africa?: 6 years are reported by both, from 2001 to 2023.
How do Democratic Republic of Congo and Sub-Saharan Africa rank globally for prevalence of underweight, weight for age?: Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 6th and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 4th of 96 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 underweight, weight 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

Democratic Republic of Congo vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of underweight, weight 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 17 September 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/compare/prevalence-of-underweight-weight-for-age-percent-of-children-under-5/congo-dem-rep/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-underweight-weight-for-age-percent-of-children-under-5/congo-dem-rep/sub-saharan-africa/">Democratic Republic of Congo vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of underweight, weight for age</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Prevalence of underweight, weight 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: 110 places, 1,307 data points, 1984–2024
Last refreshed: 17 September 2026

Prevalence of underweight children is the percentage of children under age 5 whose weight for age is more than two standard deviations below the median for the international reference population ages 0-59 months. The data are based on the WHO's 2006 Child Growth Standards.