Malnutrition, which affects Indian children the most, costs poor countries up to 3 per cent of the gross domestic product and is the root cause of child mortality, undermines economic growth and perpetuates poverty, a new World Bank report said Thursday.
Nearly one-third of children under five in the developing world remain underweight or stunted, and 30 per cent of the developing world's population continues to suffer from too few vitamins and minerals, it said.
About half of India's children are malnourished compared with a quarter of those in sub-Saharan Africa, the report titled 'Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development' said.
"We certainly knew that large numbers of malnourished children lived in South Asia, but what this report now shows us is the shocking fact that the rates of under-nutrition in South Asia are nearly double those in sub-Saharan Africa," Praful Patel, World Bank vice president for the South Asia Region, said.
"Nearly half of India's children are undernourished, compared with a quarter of those in sub-Saharan Africa. This situation is unacceptable, and given its constant impact on the Indian economy, the bank is working closely with the government to reinvigorate the campaign against malnutrition in South Asia," he said.
Contrary to common perception, under-nutrition prevalence rates in the heavy-populated South Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan are much higher (38 to 51 per cent) than those in sub-Saharan Africa (26 per cent), the report said.
