Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Europe & Central Asia
Europe & Central Asia: Prevalence of stunting, height for age was 4.6% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Europe & Central Asia, 2000–2024
Source: Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Analysis
In 2024, prevalence of stunting, height for age in Europe & Central Asia stood at 4.6%. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.4% on the previous year and down 26.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, prevalence of stunting, height for age in Europe & Central Asia peaked at 10.5% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 4.6%, in 2024.
That places Europe & Central Asia 41st out of 45 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Europe & Central Asia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 10.5% | — |
| 2001 | 10.2% | -2.9% |
| 2002 | 9.9% | -2.7% |
| 2003 | 9.7% | -2.8% |
| 2004 | 9.4% | -2.7% |
| 2005 | 9.1% | -2.9% |
| 2006 | 8.8% | -3.1% |
| 2007 | 8.5% | -3.6% |
| 2008 | 8.1% | -4.6% |
| 2009 | 7.7% | -4.9% |
| 2010 | 7.3% | -4.9% |
| 2011 | 7.0% | -4.5% |
| 2012 | 6.8% | -3.7% |
| 2013 | 6.5% | -3.7% |
| 2014 | 6.3% | -3.5% |
| 2015 | 6.0% | -3.8% |
| 2016 | 5.8% | -3.6% |
| 2017 | 5.6% | -4.1% |
| 2018 | 5.3% | -4.7% |
| 2019 | 5.1% | -4.3% |
| 2020 | 4.9% | -3.5% |
| 2021 | 4.8% | -2.9% |
| 2022 | 4.7% | -2.1% |
| 2023 | 4.6% | -1.3% |
| 2024 | 4.6% | -0.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 9.2% | 7.7% | 10.5% | 10 |
| 2010s | 6.2% | 5.1% | 7.3% | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.7% | 4.6% | 4.9% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Europe & Central Asia
More health data for Europe & Central Asia
- Population ages 45-49, female, annual growth rate 0.9265 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 45-49, male, per capita 0.0339 units per person (2025)
- Population ages 45-49, male, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Population ages 10-14, female, per capita 0.0299 units per person (2025)
- Population ages 45-49, male, annual growth rate 1.04 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 45-49, female, per capita 0.0346 units per person (2025)
- Population ages 45-49, female, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Population ages 10-14, male, annual growth rate 0.6344 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 40-44, female, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Population ages 40-44, female, per capita 0.0352 units per person (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is prevalence of stunting, height for age in Europe & Central Asia?
- Prevalence of stunting, height for age in Europe & Central Asia was 4.6% 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 Europe & Central Asia?
- The highest recorded value was 10.5% in 2000.
- What is the lowest prevalence of stunting, height for age recorded in Europe & Central Asia?
- The lowest recorded value was 4.6% in 2024.
- How does Europe & Central Asia rank for prevalence of stunting, height for age?
- Europe & Central Asia ranks 41st out of 45 groups with data for 2024.
- Is prevalence of stunting, height for age rising or falling in Europe & Central Asia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 26.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Europe & Central Asia 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.