NEW YORK, June 6, 2024 – Approximately 181 million children under the age of 5 (or 1 in 4) worldwide experience severe food poverty, making them up to 50 percent more likely to suffer from wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition A new UNICEF report emerges today.
First time, Child Food Poverty: Nutritional Poverty in Early Childhood It analyzes the effects and causes of nutritional deprivation among the world’s youngest people in nearly 100 countries and across different income groups. It warns that millions of children under the age of five are unable to access and consume a nutritious and varied diet to maintain optimal growth and development during early childhood and beyond.
Children who consume no more than two of the eight defined food groups are considered to be in severe child food poverty. Four out of five children with this condition are fed exclusively breast milk/milk and/or a starchy staple such as rice, corn or wheat. Less than 10 percent of these children are fed fruits and vegetables. And less than 5 percent eat nutrient-dense foods like eggs, fish, poultry or meat.
“Children living in extreme food poverty are children living on the brink. This is the reality for millions of young children right now, and it can have irreversible negative effects on their survival, growth and brain development,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Children who consume just two food groups a day (for example, rice and some milk) are up to 50 percent more likely to suffer from severe forms of malnutrition.”
The report warns that while countries are still recovering from the socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, rising inequalities, conflict and the effects of the climate crisis are pushing food prices and the cost of living to record high levels.
Of the 181 million children experiencing severe food poverty, 65 percent live in just 20 countries. Approximately 64 million of the affected children are in South Asia and 59 million in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Somalia, a country plagued by conflict, drought and floods, 63 percent of children experience severe food poverty, and in the most vulnerable communities, more than 80 percent of caregivers reported that their children could not eat for an entire day. .
Months of conflict and restrictions on humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip have overwhelmed food and health systems, with catastrophic consequences for children and their families. Five rounds of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 consistently found that 9 in 10 children in the Gaza Strip experience severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day. This is evidence of the dire impact that conflict and restrictions have on families’ ability to meet children’s food needs, putting children at risk of life-threatening malnutrition.
The report finds that almost half (46 per cent) of severe child food poverty cases are among poor households where income poverty is a major factor, while 54 per cent – or 97 million children – live in relatively wealthier households. Poor food environments and nutritional practices are the root causes of early childhood food poverty.
There are several factors fueling the child food poverty crisis, including food systems that fail to provide children with nutritious, safe and accessible options, the inability of families to afford nutritious foods, and the inability of parents to adopt and maintain positive child feeding practices. In many contexts, cheap, nutrient-dense and unhealthy ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages are being aggressively marketed to parents and families and are becoming the new normal in children’s diets. These unhealthy foods and drinks are consumed by an alarming proportion of young children experiencing food poverty, eliminating more nutritious and healthy foods from their daily diets.
At the same time, visible successes were achieved. Burkina Faso, for example, halved the rate of severe food poverty in children from 67 percent (2010) to 32 percent (2021). Nepal reduced its severe child food poverty rate from 20 percent (2011) to 8 percent (2022). Peru has kept this rate below 5 percent since 2014 due to a prolonged period of economic decline, while Rwanda reduced this rate from 20 percent (2010) to 12 percent (2020).
To end child food poverty, UNICEF urgently calls on governments, development and humanitarian organisations, donors, civil society and the food and drink sector to:
- Transform food systems to ensure that nutritious, diverse, and healthy foods are the most accessible, affordable, and desirable option for caregivers to feed young children.
- Leverage health systems to provide essential nutrition services to prevent and treat early childhood malnutrition; including support for community health and nutrition workers to counsel parents and families on child feeding and care practices.
- Activate social protection systems to address income poverty through social transfers (cash, food and vouchers) that respond to the food and nutrition needs of vulnerable children and their families.
To accelerate action to prevent, detect and treat severe food poverty and malnutrition in children, the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) was launched last year by UNICEF, with support from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Bill and Melinda Gates. Foundation and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). CNF is a UNICEF-led multi-partner financing mechanism that encourages domestic investments to end child malnutrition. UNICEF calls on governments, donors and financial partners to support CNF and prioritize sustainable policies and practices to end severe child food poverty and malnutrition.
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Food poverty categories for children
If children are fed:
They consume 0-2 food groups a day, experience severe child food poverty,
They consume 3-4 food groups a day, experience moderate levels of child food poverty,
Children who consume 5 or more food groups per day do not experience food poverty.