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

5 years are reported by both, from 2000 to 2019.

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.

Malawi vs Sierra Leone: Prevalence of underweight, weight for age

Malawi

12.8%

in 2020

Sierra Leone

12.0%

in 2021

Malawi rank

36th

Sierra Leone rank

38th

Prevalence of underweight, weight for age over time

Malawi
Sierra Leone

How they compare

Malawi currently reports 12.8% against 12.0% in Sierra Leone, a difference of 0.8%.

That makes Malawi's figure about 1.1 times Sierra Leone's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 5 shared years of data; in 2000 it was Sierra Leone ahead.

Malawi ranks 36th and Sierra Leone ranks 38th of 96 countries.

Sierra Leone has averaged higher in every one of the 2 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Malawi	Sierra Leone	Difference	Ahead
2000s	21.5%	23.4%	1.9%	Sierra Leone
2010s	13.4%	15.2%	1.7%	Sierra Leone

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher prevalence of underweight, weight for age, Malawi or Sierra Leone?: Malawi, at 12.8% against 12.0% in Sierra Leone as of 2020.
What is the difference in prevalence of underweight, weight for age between Malawi and Sierra Leone?: 0.8%, with Malawi ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Sierra Leone?: 5 years are reported by both, from 2000 to 2019.
How do Malawi and Sierra Leone rank globally for prevalence of underweight, weight for age?: Malawi ranks 36th and Sierra Leone ranks 38th 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

Malawi vs Sierra Leone: 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/malawi/sierra-leone/

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/malawi/sierra-leone/">Malawi vs Sierra Leone: 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: 03 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.