Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso: Prevalence of stunting, height for age was 19.5% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Burkina Faso, 2000–2024
Source: Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Analysis
In 2024, prevalence of stunting, height for age in Burkina Faso stood at 19.5%. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 1.0% on the previous year and down 32.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, prevalence of stunting, height for age in Burkina Faso peaked at 40.8% in 2002 and was at its lowest, 19.5%, in 2024.
Burkina Faso ranks 55th of 162 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Burkina Faso, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 40.4% | — |
| 2001 | 40.6% | +0.5% |
| 2002 | 40.8% | +0.5% |
| 2003 | 40.7% | -0.2% |
| 2004 | 40.6% | -0.2% |
| 2005 | 40.3% | -0.7% |
| 2006 | 39.8% | -1.2% |
| 2007 | 39.1% | -1.8% |
| 2008 | 38.0% | -2.8% |
| 2009 | 36.8% | -3.2% |
| 2010 | 35.3% | -4.1% |
| 2011 | 33.7% | -4.5% |
| 2012 | 32.0% | -5.0% |
| 2013 | 30.4% | -5.0% |
| 2014 | 28.7% | -5.6% |
| 2015 | 27.1% | -5.6% |
| 2016 | 25.6% | -5.5% |
| 2017 | 24.2% | -5.5% |
| 2018 | 23.0% | -5.0% |
| 2019 | 21.9% | -4.8% |
| 2020 | 21.0% | -4.1% |
| 2021 | 20.4% | -2.9% |
| 2022 | 20.0% | -2.0% |
| 2023 | 19.7% | -1.5% |
| 2024 | 19.5% | -1.0% |
Burkina Faso compared with similar countries
- Burkina Faso's 19.5% is below the median for low income countries, which is 31.5%, 62% of the median. (25 countries reporting)
- Burkina Faso's 19.5% is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 24.8%, 79% of the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 39.7% | 36.8% | 40.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 28.2% | 21.9% | 35.3% | 10 |
| 2020s | 20.1% | 19.5% | 21.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Burkina Faso
More health data for Burkina Faso
- Un projection of annual infant deaths, annual growth rate -1.67 % change on previous year (2100)
- Heat deaths vs projected death rates, annual growth rate 0.8925 % change on previous year (2090)
- Estimated changes in temperature-related death rates compared to projected death rates 1,142 deaths per 1,000 people (2090)
- Number of infants who die before age 1 13,085 deaths (2100)
- Neonatal tetanus - number of reported cases, gaps filled 4 (2025)
- Population ages 00-04, female, annual growth rate 0.8681 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 00-04, female, per unit of GDP 0.0001 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Population ages 00-04, female, per capita 0.0693 units per person (2025)
- Population ages 00-04, male, annual growth rate 0.7133 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 00-04, male, per unit of GDP 0.0001 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is prevalence of stunting, height for age in Burkina Faso?
- Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Burkina Faso was 19.5% in 2024, according to Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
- What is the highest prevalence of stunting, height for age recorded in Burkina Faso?
- The highest recorded value was 40.8% in 2002.
- What is the lowest prevalence of stunting, height for age recorded in Burkina Faso?
- The lowest recorded value was 19.5% in 2024.
- How does Burkina Faso rank for prevalence of stunting, height for age?
- Burkina Faso ranks 55th out of 162 countries with data for 2024.
- Is prevalence of stunting, height for age rising or falling in Burkina Faso?
- Over the last ten years it is down 32.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Burkina Faso data come from?
- The figures come from Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), published as part of Prevalence of stunting, height for age (modeled estimate, % of children under 5). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
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.