About malnutrition in Cambodia

In a publication published in November 2019 – before the Covid 19 pandemic – the NGO World Vision stressed that while the number of malnourished children in Cambodia had decreased in recent years, the pace of progress remained unacceptably slow and continued to threaten the development of human capital in Cambodia.

In the kingdom, 32% of children are stunted, 24% underweight and 10% wasted. This is a very high prevalence of malnutrition, which reveals a lack of equity in Cambodia, with stunting being more common in rural areas (34%) than in urban areas (24%) and less common in children of more educated mothers. Stunting levels vary widely from province to province, ranging from 18% in Phnom Penh to 44% in Preah Vihear and Stung Treng. Besides geography, poverty also plays a major role in the impact of malnutrition on the population.