Table 1.

Data on nutrition indicators from Laos' Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 3, 2006 (disaggregated by ethnicity)

	Lao	Khmu	Hmong	Other	Total
Anthropometric indicators †
Moderately underweight children <5 years	29.7%	31.3%	22%	50%	33.7%*
	585/1963	173/553	121/551	477/955	1357/4031
Severely underweight children <5 years	8.7%	9.6%	4.5%	19.2%	10.7%*
	171/1968	53/553	25/551	183/955	432/4031
Moderately stunted children <5 years	40.4%	55%	53.3%	60%	48.9%*
	789/1954	301/547	292/548	568/943	1953/3996
Severely stunted children <5 years	15.4%	25.1%	26.3%	32.1%	22.1%*
	300/1954	137/547	144/548	303/943	885/3996
Moderately wasted children <5 years	8.8%	3.6%	3.5%	11.1%	7.9%*
	172/1955	20/550	19/546	105/946	316/4001
Severely wasted children <5 years	1.9%	1.3%	0.7%	2%	1.7%
	38/1955	7/550	5/546	19/946	68/4001
Infants born with birthweight <2.5 kg	7%	5.1%	9.5%	15.1%	7.8%
	18/255	2/39	2/21	5/33	27/348
Nutrition indicators
Infants immediately put to breast after birth	29%	27.7%	24.3%	16.4%	25.2%*
	224/773	62/224	55/226	62/377	403/1601
Women adhering to post‐partum food restriction after delivery	80.4%	88%	88%	68.9%	79.8%*
	618/769	196/223	199/227	259/376	1273/1596
Infants aged 0–5 months exclusively breastfed	16.3%	47.3%	57.3%	8%	25.1%*
	32/196	26/55	43/75	9/112	110/438
Infants aged 12–15 months who continue to be breastfed	81.2%	93.2%	83.3%	95.1%	86.8%
	121/149	41/44	35/42	78/82	275/317
Infants aged 6–8 months receiving breastmilk and complementary foods	37.5%	25%	29.6%	63.4%	40.2%
	33/88	7/28	8/27	26/41	74/184

*Chi‐squared P < 0.0001. ^†Using WHO 2006 growth standards (moderate <−2 standard deviations; severe <−3 standard deviations below median).