World's Second-Most Populous Nation has more Obese Adults & Anaemic Women, UN Report

By: WE Staff | Friday, 8 July 2022

According to a UN report, India's population of 224.3 million undernourished individuals has decreased over the past 15 years. However, the number of obese adults and anaemic women has increased in the world's second-most populated nation.

According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 report, which was released on Wednesday by the World Health Organization (WHO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNICEF, World Food Program (WFP), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 828 million people worldwide experienced hunger in 2021, up about 46 million from 2020 and 150 million since the Covid-19 pandemic's outbreak.

It stated that the number of stunted children under the age of five decreased from 52.3 million in 2012 to 36.1 million in 2020 and the number of overweight children under the age of five decreased from three million to 2.2 million in 2020.

However, India, which has a population of over 1.4 billion, saw an increase in the number of obese adults from 25.2 million in 2012 to 34.3 million in 2016, and an increase in the number of women with anaemia between the ages of 15 and 49 from 171.5 million in 2012 to 187.3 million in 2019.

According to the survey, from 11.2 million in 2012 to 14 million in 2020, exclusively breastfed infants up to the age of five months were reported.

In India, the prevalence of stunting in children under the age of five decreased from 41.7 percent in 2012 to 30.9 percent in 2020, and the prevalence of overweight children under the age of five decreased from 2.4 percent in 2012 to 1.9 percent in 2020. In percentage terms, the prevalence of undernourishment in the country's entire population stood at 21.6 percent in 2004-06 and fell to 16.3 percent in 2019-21.

3.9 percent of adults in India were obese in 2016, up from 3.1 percent in 2012, while 53 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 were anaemic in 2012, down from 53.2 percent in 2012.