Peer-reviewed article
Child Nutrition Trends Over the Past Two Decades and Challenges for Achieving Nutrition SDGs and National Targets in China
Bo Yang, Xin Huang, Qin Liu, Shenglan Tang, Mary T. Story et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study tracks child nutrition trends in China over 26 years using national surveillance data and global health databases. Undernutrition among children under 5 has improved substantially, with stunting, wasting, and underweight all declining by more than half. However, overweight and obesity in young children have risen sharply, and exclusive breastfeeding rates remain low at around 30%. The analysis projects that China will miss some nutrition targets by 2025 unless targeted policies are strengthened.
Key points
- Stunting, wasting, and underweight in children under 5 reduced by 58.7%, 53.4%, and 69.2% respectively over 26 years
- Overweight in children aged 1-4 years increased 88.9% and obesity increased 2.14 times
- Exclusive breastfeeding of newborns remained stable at about 30%, well below recommended levels
- Projections show wasting will be 3.0% lower than the SDG 5.0% target by 2025, but stunting will only be reduced 39.7%
- Overweight is projected to increase 2.2% throughout China by 2025
Limitations
This study presents trend analysis and projections based on existing datasets; it does not evaluate the effectiveness of specific interventions or policies that may have driven these trends. The document identifies gaps and challenges but does not provide detailed implementation guidance for achieving targets.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The objectives of the current study were to identify the trends in child nutrition, the gaps in achieving child nutrition-related goals, and implications for program and policy options for the Chinese government. METHODS: Eight child nutrition-related indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and China's national nutrition plans, and two datasets, Global Burden of Disease 2016 and Chinese National Nutrition and Health Surveillance, were used in our analysis. RESULTS: Over the past 26 years, the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight for children under 5 years was reduced by 58.7%, 53.4%, and 69.2%, respectively. Overweight for children aged 1-4 years increased 88.9% and obesity increased 2.14 times. Exclusive breastfeeding of newborns (7-28 days) was stable, at about 30%. We estimated child wasting would be 3.0% lower than the target of 5.0% based on predictive values for meeting the SDGs in 2025. The number of stunted children under five years would be reduced by 39.7%, while overweight would increase 2.2% throughout China. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the urgent need for targeted policies and interventions to reduce child stunting and overweight and increase exclusive breastfeeding to improve child health and meet the SDG targets and China's national goals.