Table 2.
Weighted prevalence of overweight† for earliest and latest survey by country among children and mothers
| Region/country (earliest survey date; | Children | Sample size | Mothers | Sample size | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| latest survey date) | Earliest | Latest | Change | Earliest | Latest | Earliest | Latest | Change | Earliest | Latest |
| Latin American & Caribbean | ||||||||||
| Peru (1991; 2007) | 37·1 | 31·2 | −5·9*** | 3807 | 5656 | 42·1 | 53·4 | 11·3*** | 3306 | 5252 |
| Colombia (1995; 2005) | 17·6 | 15·7 | −2·0(*) | 2359 | 6490 | 41·2 | 40·8 | −0·4 | 2085 | 5947 |
| Nicaragua (1998; 2001) | 25·0 | 24·0 | −1·0 | 3672 | 3109 | 40·5 | 48·3 | 7·8*** | 3158 | 2752 |
| Mexico (2002; 2005) | 20·4 | 21·1 | 0·7 | 1409 | 957 | 63·2 | 60·1 | −3·1 | 1267 | 875 |
| Haiti (1994; 2005) | 10·4 | 12·3 | 1·9 | 1230 | 1167 | 11·4 | 22·3 | 10·9*** | 1073 | 1038 |
| Bolivia (1993; 2008) | 24·9 | 33·1 | 8·2*** | 733 | 4040 | 39·6 | 55·0 | 15·4*** | 732 | 3639 |
| South Asia | ||||||||||
| India (1998; 2006) | 8·5 | 4·4 | −4·1*** | 5986 | 20 208 | 6·1 | 9·1 | 3·0*** | 5966 | 18 092 |
| Nepal (1995; 2006) | 7·1 | 3·5 | −3·6*** | 870 | 2695 | 1·9 | 7·4 | 5·5*** | 865 | 2435 |
| Bangladesh (1996; 2007) | 5·3 | 2·5 | −2·8*** | 2033 | 2663 | 4·1 | 9·1 | 5·0*** | 1905 | 2497 |
| East Asia & South-East Asia | ||||||||||
| Cambodia (2000; 2005) | 6·9 | 4·6 | −2·3* | 1635 | 1822 | 6·6 | 10·0 | 3·4** | 1509 | 1654 |
| China (2000; 2006) | 24·5 | 31·0 | 6·5 | 175 | 168 | 12·4 | 21·1 | 8·7* | 170 | 166 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | ||||||||||
| Senegal (1993; 2005) | 10·2 | 5·4 | −4·8*** | 1929 | 1162 | 18·0 | 22·4 | 4·4* | 1712 | 1053 |
| Malawi (1992; 2004) | 34·3 | 30·5 | −3·8* | 1307 | 3434 | 9·2 | 13·6 | 4·4*** | 1195 | 3197 |
| Uganda (1995; 2006) | 23·7 | 21·8 | −1·9 | 1463 | 1033 | 10·5 | 15·1 | 4·6** | 1400 | 895 |
| Tanzania (1991; 2004) | 19·3 | 17·5 | −1·8 | 2708 | 3204 | 11·5 | 15·0 | 3·5** | 2466 | 2860 |
| Kenya (1993; 2008) | 17·2 | 15·5 | −1·7 | 2368 | 1139 | 13·4 | 23·0 | 9·6*** | 2051 | 1002 |
| Namibia (1992; 2007) | 9·6 | 10·1 | 0·5 | 999 | 1534 | 22·3 | 28·5 | 6·2** | 905 | 1443 |
| Burkina Faso (1992; 2003) | 13·2 | 14·4 | 1·2 | 1913 | 3490 | 7·7 | 7·5 | −0·2 | 1791 | 3297 |
| Rwanda (2000; 2005) | 25·2 | 26·9 | 1·7 | 2629 | 1699 | 14·7 | 12·6 | −2·1(*) | 2344 | 1492 |
| Madagascar (1997; 2004) | 9·0 | 10·9 | 1·9 | 635 | 2103 | 3·9 | 5·2 | 1·3 | 633 | 1906 |
| Mozambique (1997; 2003) | 23·1 | 25·7 | 2·5 | 707 | 3586 | 10·5 | 12·1 | 1·6 | 703 | 3305 |
| Cameroon (1998; 2004) | 25·2 | 28·7 | 3·5 | 396 | 1350 | 21·4 | 26·1 | 4·7(*) | 389 | 1201 |
| Mali (1995; 2006) | 9·5 | 13·1 | 3·6** | 880 | 4432 | 11·1 | 17·0 | 5·9*** | 879 | 4003 |
| Nigeria (2003; 2008) | 17·9 | 21·8 | 3·9** | 1789 | 8053 | 23·5 | 23·5 | 0·0 | 1619 | 7238 |
| Ghana (1993; 2008) | 9·9 | 15·4 | 5·5** | 466 | 1147 | 14·1 | 28·4 | 14·3*** | 460 | 1045 |
| Zambia (1992; 2007) | 19·8 | 25·7 | 5·8*** | 1982 | 2278 | 16·0 | 16·8 | 0·8 | 1780 | 2059 |
| Niger (1992; 2006) | 7·5 | 14·0 | 6·6*** | 1865 | 1508 | 8·5 | 14·2 | 5·7*** | 1677 | 1373 |
| Benin (1996; 2006) | 9·6 | 21·6 | 12·1*** | 509 | 5318 | 9·9 | 16·8 | 6·9*** | 502 | 4871 |
| North Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe | ||||||||||
| Armenia (2000; 2005) | 41·1 | 29·2 | −11·9*** | 877 | 672 | 30·6 | 31·5 | 0·9 | 757 | 601 |
| Morocco (1992; 2003) | 29·8 | 26·6 | −3·3* | 2236 | 2770 | 33·1 | 44·2 | 11·1*** | 1958 | 2554 |
| Egypt (1992; 2008) | 39·7 | 40·1 | 0·4 | 3790 | 4531 | 56·9 | 70·9 | 14·0*** | 3247 | 4067 |
| Turkey (1993; 2004) | 19·2 | 29·3 | 10·0*** | 1591 | 2188 | 51·9 | 57·3 | 5·4** | 1425 | 1929 |
| Jordan (1997; 2007) | 12·6 | 22·7 | 10·2*** | 2723 | 2095 | 61·5 | 60·5 | −1·0 | 2154 | 1731 |
Source: Demographic and Health Surveys; Mexican Family Life Survey; China Health and Nutrition Survey.
Sample: Children aged 2–4 years and their mothers in thirty-three less developed countries between 1990 and 2008. Countries had a minimum of two surveys at least 3 years apart with the most recent survey in the 2000s.
Change in overweight prevalence was significant (t test): (*) P < 0·10, *P < 0·05, **P < 0·01, ***P < 0·001.
Child's overweight is based on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention age- and sex-standardized growth charts. A percentile BMI at or above the 85th percentile is coded as overweight. Mother's overweight is defined as BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m2.