Table 3. Percentage of underweight and stunting among children under-5 years by household, maternal and child-relate characteristics, Malawi demographic and health survey, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2010, 2015–16.
| Characteristics | Underweight (weight-for-age < -2 SD) |
Stunting (height-for-age < -2 SD) |
||||||||
| 1992 | 2000 | 2004 | 2010 | 2015–16 | 1992 | 2000 | 2004 | 2010 | 2015–16 | |
| Total | 24.7 | 21.7 | 18.8 | 14.1 | 10.7 | 55.6 | 55.4 | 53.5 | 48.4 | 32.6 |
| 95%CI | 22.6, 26.7 | 20.5, 22.9 | 17,7, 20.0 | 12.8, 15.5 | 9.7, 11.8 | 53.5, 57.7 | 53.8, 57.0 | 51.9, 55.0 | 46.4, 50.3 | 30.9, 34.3 |
| Standard Error | 0.0104 | 0.0063 | 0.0057 | 0.0071 | 0.0054 | 0.0107 | 0.0081 | 0.0077 | 0.0100 | 0.0088 |
| Household characteristics | ||||||||||
| Residence | ||||||||||
| Urban | 15.4 | 13.3 | 12.8 | 11.7 | 6.7 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 6.3 | 2.9 |
| Rural | 25.8 | 22.9 | 19.9 | 14.6 | 11.3 | 51.1 | 50.0 | 47.9 | 42.1 | 29.7 |
| P value | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.001 | 0.241 | 0.007 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Region | ||||||||||
| Northern | 17.6 | 15.6 | 14.4 | 12.9 | 10.0 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 6.4 | 4.9 | 3.4 |
| Central | 23.2 | 23.7 | 18.8 | 14.8 | 9.9 | 23.5 | 26.2 | 22.5 | 22.4 | 14.1 |
| Southern | 27.8 | 21.3 | 20.2 | 13.8 | 11.6 | 25.9 | 23.9 | 24.5 | 21.1 | 15.2 |
| P value | 0.001 | 0.000 | 0.002 | 0.613 | 0.281 | 0.203 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.700 | 0.760 |
| Wealth index | ||||||||||
| Poorest | 30.9 | 27.6 | 25.8 | 17.5 | 14.2 | 12.9 | 14.8 | 11.5 | 10.1 | 9.6 |
| Poor | 29.0 | 24.9 | 20.7 | 15.7 | 11.8 | 11.1 | 21.0 | 12.4 | 11.7 | 8.6 |
| Middle | 25.4 | 22.1 | 19.8 | 13.3 | 10.9 | 12.3 | 20.2 | 13.1 | 10.7 | 6.2 |
| Richer | 20.5 | 19.2 | 16.8 | 15.5 | 9.3 | 11.6 | 18.2 | 10.2 | 8.8 | 5.0 |
| Richest | 16.7 | 11.9 | 9.0 | 8.9 | 5.1 | 7.6 | 17.3 | 6.3 | 6.9 | 3.2 |
| P value | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.003 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Source of drinking water | ||||||||||
| Non-improved | 26.6 | 23.5 | 19.0 | 15.1 | 10.6 | 30.1 | 45.4 | 31.7 | 38.4 | 30.2 |
| Improved | 22.4 | 15.3 | 18.6 | 10.9 | 5.8 | 25.4 | 10.1 | 21.7 | 10.0 | 2.1 |
| P value | 0.040 | 0.000 | 0.733 | 0.034 | 0.020 | 0.020 | 0.000 | 0.350 | 0.043 | 0.000 |
| Toilet facilities | ||||||||||
| No toilet facility | 29.9 | 27.4 | 24.2 | 19.9 | 19.9 | 15.3 | 11.2 | 9.6 | 5.3 | 1.9 |
| Non-improved | 23.5 | 20.8 | 18.2 | 13.9 | 13.9 | 39.3 | 43.4 | 42.7 | 39.0 | 5.2 |
| Improved | 4.3 | 10.8 | 7.7 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 9.3 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 4.2 | 25.5 |
| P value | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.003 | 0.003 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.003 | 0.400 |
| Maternal characteristics | ||||||||||
| Highest education level | ||||||||||
| No education | 27.9 | 24.6 | 22.6 | 16.8 | 13.6 | 30.0 | 19.3 | 14.4 | 9.1 | 5.3 |
| Primary | 22.0 | 21.5 | 18.6 | 14.7 | 11.2 | 24.9 | 33.8 | 34.8 | 33.4 | 22.3 |
| Secondary+ | 9.3 | 9.7 | 11.2 | 8.6 | 7.4 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 4.3 | 5.9 | 5.0 |
| P value | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.002 | 0.002 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Mothers age (yr) | ||||||||||
| <20 | 28.6 | 26.4 | 19.5 | 19.3 | 8.6 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| 20–30 | 23.2 | 20.9 | 17.7 | 13.4 | 10.5 | 25.9 | 57.4 | 31.8 | 28.3 | 18.5 |
| >30 | 25.6 | 22.2 | 20.6 | 14.5 | 11.5 | 25.7 | 20.6 | 18.8 | 18.0 | 12.3 |
| P value | 0.159 | 0.025 | 0.037 | 0.134 | 0.362 | 0.164 | 0.012 | 0.018 | 0.030 | 0.131 |
| Number of under-5 children living with mother | ||||||||||
| 1 | 24.9 | 23.4 | 18.4 | 16.9 | 9.9 | 7.3 | 10.1 | 8.2 | 6.8 | 5.8 |
| 2–3 | 23.3 | 21.1 | 17.5 | 12.9 | 9.6 | 20.4 | 23.5 | 24.6 | 21.5 | 14.4 |
| 4–5 | 27.7 | 21.3 | 20.6 | 14.3 | 12.1 | 17.0 | 13.5 | 13.2 | 12.4 | 8.5 |
| ≥6 | 22.5 | 21.8 | 20.7 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 10.8 | 8.4 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 3.9 |
| P value | 0.159 | 0.419 | 0.055 | 0.281 | 0.073 | 0.006 | 0.536 | 0.057 | 0.960 | 0.099 |
| Child-related characteristics | ||||||||||
| Sex | ||||||||||
| Male | 27.1 | 23.3 | 19.9 | 15.0 | 11.9 | 29.1 | 28.3 | 27.7 | 25.4 | 16.6 |
| Female | 22.2 | 20.1 | 17.8 | 13.3 | 9.6 | 26.5 | 27.1 | 25.8 | 23.0 | 16.0 |
| P value | 0.007 | 0.001 | 0.032 | 0.220 | 0.011 | 0.005 | 0.001 | 0.004 | 0.000 | 0.061 |
| Age (mo) | ||||||||||
| ≤6 | 13.8 | 17.9 | 10.5 | 9.5 | 5.5 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 1.7 |
| 7–12 | 25.0 | 24.4 | 22.1 | 13.1 | 11.0 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 2.9 | 2.0 |
| 13–23 | 28.1 | 25.7 | 20.7 | 16.9 | 8.9 | 10.7 | 11.6 | 13.0 | 12.2 | 5.7 |
| 24–35 | 29.0 | 24.8 | 19.9 | 15.0 | 11.0 | 13.4 | 13.6 | 10.9 | 11.6 | 8.1 |
| 36–59 | 25.1 | 18.2 | 19.1 | 13.8 | 12.7 | 23.9 | 22.1 | 21.6 | 19.3 | 15.1 |
| P value | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.039 | 0.002 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Birth order | ||||||||||
| 1 | 24.0 | 226 | 18.0 | 16.2 | 10.5 | 8.9 | 12.2 | 11.4 | 9.4 | 8.0 |
| 2–3 | 23.4 | 20.6 | 17.8 | 12.9 | 9.1 | 15.7 | 19.2 | 19.7 | 17.9 | 12.2 |
| ≥4 | 25.6 | 22.2 | 20.2 | 14.3 | 12.6 | 31.0 | 24.0 | 22.3 | 21.1 | 12.4 |
| P value | 0.472 | 0.206 | 0.065 | 0.209 | 0.014 | 0.318 | 0.316 | 0.316 | 0.910 | 0.581 |
| Size at birth | ||||||||||
| Small | 33.0 | 32.8 | 30.5 | 26.6 | 18.3 | 10.7 | 9.9 | 8.7 | 8.6 | 6.8 |
| Average | 23.9 | 21.6 | 18.0 | 14.0 | 10.5 | 35.5 | 33.0 | 27.0 | 21.2 | 15.6 |
| Large | 19.6 | 15.2 | 14.5 | 10.4 | 7.6 | 9.3 | 12.5 | 17.7 | 18.4 | 10.4 |
| P value | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Diarrhoea | ||||||||||
| No | 23.3 | 20.2 | 17.0 | 13.6 | 23.3 | 43.6 | 45.6 | 40.2 | 41.0 | 25.8 |
| Yes | 29.5 | 28.5 | 24.9 | 17.4 | 29.5 | 12.0 | 9.8 | 13.2 | 7.4 | 6.8 |
| P value | 0.003 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 14.2 | 0.003 | 0.154 | 0.133 | 0.000 | 0.908 | 0.687 |
| Fever | ||||||||||
| No | 22.3 | 18.9 | 17.2 | 13.8 | 10.6 | 32.9 | 31.7 | 32.6 | 32.3 | 23.0 |
| Yes | 28.1 | 25.5 | 21.5 | 14.9 | 11.0 | 22.7 | 23.8 | 20.8 | 16.1 | 9.6 |
| P value | 0.002 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.411 | 0.718 | 0.974 | 0.544 | 0.153 | 0.913 | 0.156 |
| Cough | ||||||||||
| No | 24.0 | 21.3 | 17.7 | 14.5 | 11.1 | 32.4 | 29.6 | 32.6 | 35.0 | 24.3 |
| Yes | 25.7 | 22.2 | 20.7 | 13.5 | 9.6 | 23.2 | 25.8 | 20.9 | 13.3 | 8.3 |
| P value | 0.325 | 0.337 | 0.003 | 0.497 | 0.227 | 0.343 | 0.026 | 0.473 | 0.679 | 0.756 |