Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela
Venezuela: Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty was 2.9% in 2009. ▼ Falling
Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela, 1984–2009
Source: Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in % of children under 5.
Analysis
In 2009, share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela stood at 2.9%. That is the lowest value across all 21 years on record.
The figure is down 9.4% on the previous year and down 29.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela peaked at 6.7% in 1990 and was at its lowest, 2.9%, in 2009.
That places Venezuela 76th out of 96 countries with data for 2009, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 21 years of available data.
Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela, year by year
| Year | % of children under 5 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 3.9% | — |
| 1990 | 6.7% | +71.8% |
| 1991 | 5.4% | -19.4% |
| 1992 | 4.5% | -16.7% |
| 1993 | 4.0% | -11.1% |
| 1994 | 3.9% | -2.5% |
| 1995 | 4.1% | +5.1% |
| 1996 | 4.4% | +7.3% |
| 1997 | 4.5% | +2.3% |
| 1998 | 4.6% | +2.2% |
| 1999 | 4.1% | -10.9% |
| 2000 | 3.9% | -4.9% |
| 2001 | 4.0% | +2.6% |
| 2002 | 4.2% | +5.0% |
| 2003 | 4.6% | +9.5% |
| 2004 | 4.5% | -2.2% |
| 2005 | 4.1% | -8.9% |
| 2006 | 3.9% | -4.9% |
| 2007 | 3.7% | -5.1% |
| 2008 | 3.2% | -13.5% |
| 2009 | 2.9% | -9.4% |
Venezuela compared with similar countries
- Venezuela's 2.9% is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 11.6%, 25% of the median. (38 countries reporting)
- Venezuela's 2.9% is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 3.7%, 78% of the median. (17 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | +71.8% | 3.9% | 6.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 3.9% | 3.9% | 3.9% | 1 |
| 1990s | 4.6% | 3.9% | 6.7% | 10 |
| 2000s | 3.9% | 2.9% | 4.6% | 10 |
Countries ranked near Venezuela
- 73 Azerbaijan 3.0% compare
- 73 Dominican Republic 3.0% compare
- 73 Morocco 3.0% compare
- 76 Costa Rica 2.9% compare
- 76 Kyrgyzstan 2.9% compare
- 79 Kuwait 2.8% compare
More poverty & inequality data for Venezuela
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 0 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 2.08 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 4,080 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate 15.68 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 20.19 (2015)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 20.2% (2015)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2015)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela?
- Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty in Venezuela was 2.9% in 2009, according to Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty recorded in Venezuela?
- The highest recorded value was 6.7% in 1990.
- What is the lowest share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty recorded in Venezuela?
- The lowest recorded value was 2.9% in 2009.
- How does Venezuela rank for share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty?
- Venezuela ranks 76th out of 96 countries with data for 2009.
- Is share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty rising or falling in Venezuela?
- Over the last ten years it is down 29.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Venezuela data come from?
- The figures come from Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME) - UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of children who are underweight vs. share in extreme poverty. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 21 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
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.