Malnutrition is on the rise in every country in the world and is the leading global driver of disease. The 2016 Global Nutrition Report shows that 44 percent of countries with data available (57 out of 129 countries) now experience very serious levles of both undernutrition and adult overweight and obesity. Despite good progress in some countries, the world is off track to reduce and reverse this trend. 

Beijing, Johannesburg, Nairobi, New Delhi, New York, Stockholm, Washington D.C, 14 June 2016 – Rates of obesity and overweight are rising in every region of the world and in nearly every country according to the 2016 Global Nutrition Report released today.

The independent report reveals insufficient progress in the fight against all forms of malnutrition; for example, almost all countries are off course on efforts to reduce anemia in women and to prevent further increase in diabetes.

Malnutrition manifests itself in many different ways: as poor child growth and development; as individuals who are skin and bone or prone to infection; as those who carry too much weight or whose blood contains too much sugar, salt, fat or cholesterol; or those who are deficient in important vitamins or minerals.

Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of all deaths of children under age 5, and, together with poor diets, is the number one driver of the global burden of disease. At least 57 countries experience serious levels of both undernutrition – including stunting and anemia – and adult overweight and obesity, putting a massive strain on many already fragile health systems.

“One in three people suffer from some form of malnutrition,” said Lawrence Haddad, Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report’s Independent Expert Group and Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. “We now live in a world where being malnourished is the new normal. It is a world that we must all claim as totally unacceptable.”

The 2016 Report launches this week in seven cities around the globe and comes on the heels of renewed international attention on nutrition. The Report highlights the staggering economic costs of malnutrition, as well as the critical gaps in investments and commitments to date.

The Global Nutrition Report is an annual independent stocktake of the state of the world’s nutrition. The Report aims to make it easier for governments and other stakeholders to actually make high impact commitments to end malnutrition in all its forms. 

Read full press release in the box below. 

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Media contacts: 

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China: Beisi Li ([email protected]); WeChat: BeisiLi