Lesotho vs Malawi: Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty
Lesotho
12.5%
in 2024
Malawi
12.8%
in 2020
Lesotho rank
37th
Malawi rank
36th
Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty over time
- Lesotho
- Malawi
How they compare
Malawi currently reports 12.8% against 12.5% in Lesotho, a difference of 0.3%.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 5 shared years of data; in 1992 it was Malawi ahead.
Lesotho ranks 37th and Malawi ranks 36th of 96 countries.
Malawi has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Lesotho | Malawi | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 13.8% | 24.4% | 10.6% | Malawi |
| 2000s | 15.0% | 15.2% | 0.2% | Malawi |
| 2010s | 10.5% | 14.1% | 3.6% | Malawi |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty, Lesotho or Malawi?
- Malawi, at 12.8% against 12.5% in Lesotho as of 2020.
- What is the difference in share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty between Lesotho and Malawi?
- 0.3%, with Malawi ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Lesotho and Malawi?
- 5 years are reported by both, from 1992 to 2018.
- How do Lesotho and Malawi rank globally for share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty?
- Lesotho ranks 37th and Malawi ranks 36th of 96 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Underweight children are those less than 5 years old, whose weight for age is more than two standard deviations below the median for the international reference population. Extreme poverty is defined as living below the International Poverty Line of $3 per day.