India is 'on course' to meet three of the global nutrition targets for which there was sufficient data to assess progress.
India is 'on course' to meet three targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN). No progress has been made towards achieving the target of reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age, with 53.0% of women aged 15 to 49 years now affected. Meanwhile, there is insufficient data to assess the progress that India has made towards achieving the low birth weight target, nor is there adequate prevalence data. India is 'on course' for the exclusive breastfeeding target, with 58.0% of infants aged 0 to 5 months exclusively breastfed. Similarly, India is 'on course' to meet the target for stunting, but 34.7% of children under 5 years of age are still affected, which is higher than the average for the Asia region (21.8%). India has made no progress towards achieving the target for wasting, with 17.3% of children under 5 years of age affected, which is higher than the average for the Asia region (8.9%) and among the highest in the world. The prevalence of overweight children under 5 years of age is 1.6% and India is 'on course' to prevent the figure from increasing.
India has shown limited progress towards achieving the diet-related non-communicable disease (NCD) targets. 6.2% of adult (aged 18 years and over) women and 3.5% of adult men are living with obesity. India's obesity prevalence is lower than the regional average of 10.3% for women and 7.5% for men. At the same time, diabetes is estimated to affect 9.0% of adult women and 10.2% of adult men.
Source: WHO. Global Health Observatory Data Repository/World Health Statistics. Available at: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators. Accessed 16 November 2022.; UNICEF/WHO. Low birthweight estimates; published online 2019. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/low-birthweight. Accessed 16 November 2022; UNICEF. Global databases: Infant and young child feeding; published online July 2020. Available at: http://data.unicef.org/nutrition/iycf. Accessed 16 November 2022; UNICEF/WHO/World Bank. Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates Expanded Database: Stunting, Wasting and Overweight; published online July 2020. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/resources/dataset/malnutrition-data. Accessed 16 November 2022; NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. 2017. Available at: http://ncdrisc.org/data-downloads.html. Accessed 16 November 2022; Tufts University. Global Dietary Database; published online 2019. Available at: https://www.globaldietarydatabase.org/data-download. Accessed 16 November 2022
Notes: Progress towards the maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN) and diet-related non-communicable disease (NCD) global nutrition targets is classified as ‘on course’ if the target is met, ‘some progress' or ‘no progress or worsening’. MIYCN targets include anaemia among women of reproductive age (15–49 years), infants with low birthweight, exclusive breastfeeding among infants under 6 months of age, and childhood stunting, wasting and overweight. NCD targets include adult obesity and diabetes, raised blood pressure and sodium intake. Obesity and diabetes are based on age-standardised modelled estimates for adults aged 18 years and older, using the WHO standard population; they are reported by sex due to limitations in data availability. Anaemia and low birthweight are also based on modelled estimates. The specific targets set are: 40% reduction in the number of children under 5 years of age who are stunted; 50% reduction of anaemia in women of reproductive age; 30% reduction in low birth weight; no increase in childhood overweight; increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months to at least 50%; reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5%; 30% relative reduction in the mean population intake of salt/sodium by 2025; 25% relative reduction in the prevalence of raised blood pressure or contain the prevalence of raised blood pressure, according to national circumstances; and halt the rise in obesity and diabetes. The methodologies for tracking progress differ across targets. See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
Source: UNICEF. Global databases: Infant and young child feeding. Published online September 2021. Available at: http://data.unicef.org/nutrition/iycf. Accessed 16 November 2022.
Notes: Prevalence (%) estimates are presented for infants and young children aged 0–23 months (age varies by indicator). Location is classified as ‘urban’ or ‘rural’ (as defined in the survey). Education refers to the educational level of the mother and is classified as ‘none or primary’ or ‘secondary or higher’. Wealth is asset-based wealth scores at the household level, classified as quintiles: ‘lowest’, ‘second lowest’, ‘middle’, ‘second highest’ and ‘highest’. See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
Source: Tufts University. Global Dietary Database. Published online 2019. Available at: https://www.globaldietarydatabase.org/data-download. Accessed 16 November 2022
Notes: Intakes are reported in grams per day (g/d) for all dietary factors. Intakes are based on modelled estimates for adults aged 25 years and older. The dietary factors have been selected as those diet components that have a statistically significant relationship with at least one disease endpoint that can be generalisable to all populations. Recommended intake targets were determined by the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. This includes minimum recommended intakes of health promoting food groups (fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and wholegrains) and maximum recommended intakes of food groups with detrimental health and/or environmental impacts (red meat, dairy, and fish). Ideal intake for each food is within the shaded area of the graph.
Source: UNICEF/WHO/World Bank. Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates Expanded Database: Stunting, Wasting and Overweight. Published online May 2022. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/resources/dataset/malnutrition-data. Accessed 16 November 2022.
Notes: Prevalence (%) estimates are presented for infants and young children aged 0–59 months. Stunting is defined as below minus two standard deviations ( +1 SD) from the median weight-for-height of the WHO growth reference. Location is classified as ‘urban’ or ‘rural’ (as defined in the survey). Education refers to the educational level of the mother and is classified as ‘none or primary’ or ‘secondary or higher’. Wealth is asset-based wealth scores at the household level, classified as quintiles: ‘lowest’, ‘second lowest’, ‘middle’, ‘second highest’ and ‘highest’. See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
Source: UNICEF. Global Databases: Overlapping Stunting, Wasting and Overweight. Published online May 2022. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/malnutrition. Accessed 16 November 2022.
Notes: Prevalence (%) estimates are presented for infants and young children aged 0–59 months. See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Values for 2000 to 2016 are available online (http://ncdrisc.org/data-downloads.html. Accessed 16 November 2022). Projected values for 2019 were provided directly to the Global Nutrition Report by NCD Risk Factor Collaboration.
Notes: Prevalence (%) estimates are based on modelled age-standardised estimates for children and adolescents aged 5–19 years up to 2016 using the WHO standard population. Projected values for 2019 are visualised using a dashed line. Thinness is defined as below minus two standard deviation ( +1 SD), and obesity as above two standard deviations (>+2 SD). See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Values for 2000 to 2016 are available online (http://ncdrisc.org/data-downloads.html. Accessed 16 November 2022). Projected values for 2019 were provided directly to the Global Nutrition Report by NCD Risk Factor Collaboration.
Notes: Prevalence (%) estimates are based on modelled age-standardised estimates for adults aged 18 years and older up to 2016 using the WHO standard population. Projected values for 2019 are displayed using a dashed line. Underweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5kg/m2 (BMI Sources and notes
Source: WHO. Global Health Observatory Data Repository/World Health Statistics. Available at: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators. Accessed 16 November 2022.
Notes: Prevalence (%) estimates are based on modelled estimates for women aged 15−49 years up to 2019. Anaemia is defined as haemoglobin concentration less than 120g/L for non-pregnant and lactating women, and less than 110 g/L for pregnant women, adjusted for altitude and smoking. See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Values for 2000 to 2016 are available online (http://ncdrisc.org/data-downloads.html. Accessed 16 November 2022). Projected values for 2019 were provided directly to the Global Nutrition Report by NCD Risk Factor Collaboration.
Notes: Prevalence (%) estimates are based on modelled age-standardised estimates for adults aged 18 years and older from 2000 to 2015 for raised blood pressure, and from 2000 to 2014 for diabetes, using the WHO standard population. Projected values for 2019 are displayed using a dashed line. Raised blood pressure is defined as systolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 140mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 90mmHg. See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
Source: New analysis based on estimates of food intake from the Global Dietary Database, weight measurements from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, risk-disease relationships from the epidemiological literature and mortality and population estimates from the Global Burden of Disease project.
Notes: Deaths (in millions) attributable to dietary risk factors by cause of death, for risks related to dietary composition and weight levels. The combined risk is less than the sum of individual risks because individuals can be exposed to multiple risks, but mortality is ascribed to one risk and cause. 'All risk factors' includes all deaths associated with dietary composition (i.e. diets low in fruits, diets low in vegetables, diets low in wholegrains, diets high in processed meat, diets high in red meat, and diets high in sugary drinks) and all deaths associated with weight levels (i.e. underweight, overweight, obese). See Methodology for more information on the indicators.
