{"id":34684,"date":"2026-09-16T12:23:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T16:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=34684"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T13:48:32","slug":"252-million-young-children-in-developing-countries-are-undernourished-multidimensionally-poor-or-both-new-global-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2026\/09\/252-million-young-children-in-developing-countries-are-undernourished-multidimensionally-poor-or-both-new-global-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"252 million young children in developing countries are undernourished, multidimensionally poor, or both, new global study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Oxford, 15 September 2026\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 Nearly half of all children under 5 in developing regions are poor, undernourished, or both, according to a report published today by the Oxford Poverty and\u00a0Human\u00a0Development\u00a0Initiative\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0Universityof\u00a0Oxford.\u00a0The\u00a0report\u00a0sheds\u00a0new\u00a0light\u00a0on deprivations in child nutrition and school attendance across the developing world revealing important information on the scale and complexity of challenges facing children.<\/p>\n<p>The study is based on data from the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (Global MPI) computed by OPHI and the United Nations Development Programme. Going beyond the single\u00a0deprivations\u00a0children\u00a0face\u00a0in\u00a0nutrition\u00a0andschooling,\u00a0the\u00a0study\u00a0also\u00a0examines\u00a0whether they\u00a0experience\u00a0broader\u00a0multidimensional\u00a0poverty\u00a0at\u00a0home.\u00a0Specifically,\u00a0itassesses\u00a0whether they live in households deprived in at least a third of the ten indicators of the Global MPI relating to health, education and living standards.<\/p>\n<p>This report delivers the first global multidimensional study of children\u2019s experiences of poverty\u00a0within\u00a0the\u00a0home\u00a0basedon\u00a0observed\u00a0household\u00a0survey\u00a0data,\u00a0covering\u00a097\u00a0countries for undernutrition and 108 for school attendance.<\/p>\n<h2>Scale\u00a0of\u00a0challenges\u00a0facing\u00a0children\u00a0in\u00a0developing\u00a0countries<\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0report\u00a0highlights\u00a0the\u00a0urgency\u00a0of\u00a0child\u00a0poverty\u00a0in\u00a0developing\u00a0regions:<\/p>\n<p>Across\u00a097\u00a0countries\u00a0with\u00a0available\u00a0data\u00a0(covering\u00a0518\u00a0million\u00a0children),\u00a0shockingly, nearly half of all children under 5 (252 million) are undernourished, multidimensionally poor, or both.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Around\u00a0one-third\u00a0of\u00a0children\u00a0under\u00a05\u00a0are\u00a0undernourished,\u00a0meaning\u00a0they\u00a0are\u00a0stunted or underweight.<\/li>\n<li>Globally\u00a096\u00a0million\u00a0undernourished\u00a0children\u00a0also\u00a0live\u00a0in\u00a0multidimensional\u00a0poverty\u00a0(1\u00a0in 5 children).<\/li>\n<li>Each\u00a0multidimensionally\u00a0poor\u00a0and\u00a0undernourished\u00a0child\u00a0experiences\u00a0on\u00a0average\u00a0four to five deprivations in addition to being undernourished themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Across\u00a0108\u00a0countries\u00a0with\u00a0available\u00a0data,\u00a013%\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a01.04\u00a0billion\u00a0school-aged\u00a0children are out of school (136 million). Over 80% of all out-of-school children are also multidimensionally poor (110 million).<\/li>\n<li>Each\u00a0poor\u00a0out-of-school\u00a0child\u00a0experiences\u00a0an\u00a0average\u00a0of\u00a0five\u00a0additional\u00a0deprivations.<\/li>\n<li>Of\u00a0the\u00a01.04\u00a0billion\u00a0school-aged\u00a0children\u00a0covered,\u00a031%\u00a0are\u00a0out\u00a0of\u00a0school, multidimensionally poor, or both.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe were shocked by how tightly clustered the intensity of poverty is for children,\u201d said Sabina\u00a0Alkire, Director of OPHI and co-author of the study, \u201cthe 96 million children under 5 who are both undernourished and multidimensionally poor experience, on average, four to five\u00a0deprivations\u00a0in\u00a0addition\u00a0to\u00a0undernutrition.\u00a0Similarly,\u00a0the110\u00a0million\u00a0children\u00a0who\u00a0are\u00a0both multidimensionally poor and out of school experience, on average, five additional deprivations across the other nine global MPI indicators. The data reaffirms the need for multisectoral approaches to development programmes such as social protection\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>Over\u00a0one-third\u00a0of\u00a0poor\u00a0children\u00a0experience\u00a0intra-household\u00a0inequality<\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0report\u00a0examines\u00a0whether\u00a0all\u00a0children\u00a0within\u00a0the\u00a0same\u00a0household\u00a0are\u00a0all\u00a0disadvantaged or whether all are not disadvantaged. It finds glaring intrahousehold disparities. Over one-third of poor children experience intra-household inequality. That is, over one-third of poor children under five live in a household in which at least one child is undernourished and another is not. Similarly, over one-third of poor children live in households where some school-aged\u00a0children\u00a0are\u00a0going\u00a0to\u00a0school\u00a0and\u00a0others\u00a0are\u00a0not,\u00a0pointing\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0poignant\u00a0need\u00a0to plan integrated programmes that recognise how poverty may be experienced unequally within the home.<\/p>\n<h2>82%\u00a0of\u00a0poor\u00a0out-of-school\u00a0children\u00a0live\u00a0in\u00a0households\u00a0where\u00a0no\u00a0woman\u00a0has completed six years of schooling<\/h2>\n<p>The report provides an up to date yet stark picture of women\u2019s educational disadvantage across developing regions. In multidimensionally poor homes, over two-thirds of poor children \u2013 whether well-nourished or undernourished \u2013 live in a household where no woman has\u00a0completed\u00a0six\u00a0years\u00a0of\u00a0schooling.\u00a0By\u00a0comparison,\u00a0just\u00a0over\u00a0half\u00a0live\u00a0in\u00a0householdswhere no man has completed six years of schooling. The gap is even wider among poor children who are out of school: around 82% live in households where no woman has completed six years of schooling, compared with 62% who live in households without a man who has reached the same level.<\/p>\n<h2>67%\u00a0of\u00a0girls\u00a0in\u00a0Afghanistan\u00a0are\u00a0out\u00a0of\u00a0school\u00a0compared\u00a0with\u00a047%\u00a0of\u00a0boys<\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0report\u00a0also\u00a0finds\u00a0that\u00a0while\u00a0more\u00a0boys\u00a0are\u00a0undernourished\u00a0than\u00a0girls,\u00a0and\u00a0globally\u00a0more girls are out of school than boys, the gender disparities in school attendance vary considerably across countries. In 19 countries, representing 56% of all out-of-school children,\u00a0girls\u00a0face\u00a0higher\u00a0rates\u00a0of\u00a0school\u00a0exclusion\u00a0than\u00a0boys.\u00a0The\u00a0largest\u00a0gender\u00a0gaps\u00a0are found in\u00a0Afghanistan, where the share of girls not attending school is 20 percentage points higher\u00a0than\u00a0the\u00a0share\u00a0ofboys\u00a0(67%\u00a0compared\u00a0with\u00a047%),\u00a0followed\u00a0by\u00a0Pakistan\u00a0(30.2%\u00a0and 22.3%), Central African Republic (29.3% and 21.5%), and Guinea (41.3% and 33.7%).<\/p>\n<h2>First-generation\u00a0learners<\/h2>\n<p>More positively in 108 countries, 71 million children aged 10\u201317 years old are pioneer children\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the\u00a0only\u00a0ones\u00a0in\u00a0theirhousehold\u00a0to\u00a0complete\u00a0six\u00a0years\u00a0of\u00a0schooling.\u00a0Half\u00a0of\u00a0these pioneer children live in\u00a0South\u00a0Asia (35 million),\u00a0where one in nine children aged 10\u201317 is a pioneer child.<\/p>\n<p>By\u00a0country,\u00a028\u00a0million\u00a0pioneer\u00a0children\u00a0live\u00a0in\u00a0India,\u00a0over\u00a03\u00a0million\u00a0in\u00a0Bangladesh,\u00a02\u00a0million\u00a0in Pakistan, 837,000 in Nepal and 508,500 in Afghanistan.\u00a0Supporting these young people could mobilise significant change.<\/p>\n<p>India,\u00a0Bhutan\u00a0and\u00a0Bangladesh\u00a0have\u00a0higher\u00a0shares\u00a0of\u00a0pioneer\u00a0girls\u00a0among\u00a0girls\u00a0aged\u00a010\u201317 than\u00a0there\u00a0are\u00a0pioneerboys\u00a0among\u00a0boys\u00a0aged\u00a010\u201317.\u00a0Only\u00a0in\u00a0Afghanistan\u00a0are\u00a0there\u00a0higher levels of pioneer boys than girls among childrenof each group \u2013 7% of boys versus 4% of girls \u2013 and half of Afghanistan\u2019s pioneer children are also multidimensionally poor.<\/p>\n<p>Yet\u00a0not\u00a0all\u00a0children\u00a0share\u00a0this\u00a0progress.\u00a0Globally,\u00a09%\u00a0of\u00a0pioneer\u00a0children\u00a0live\u00a0in\u00a0homes\u00a0where at least one other school-aged child is out of school.<\/p>\n<h2>How\u00a0this\u00a0will\u00a0help<\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0report\u00a0offers\u00a0a\u00a0new\u00a0lens\u00a0for\u00a0understanding\u00a0child\u00a0nutrition\u00a0and\u00a0schooling\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0context\u00a0of other deprivations at the global level.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Sabina Alkire said of the report \u201cthis is the first study that demonstrates at scale the possibility and importance of using existing individual data alongside household data to inform evidence-based programmes that meaningfully address cycles of poverty seeded by undernourished\u00a0and\u00a0out-of-school\u00a0children.\u00a0Amartya\u00a0Senrecognised\u00a0nutrition\u00a0and\u00a0schooling to provide both instrumental and intrinsic value. We must work together at the local level in the\u00a0fields\u00a0of\u00a0measurement\u00a0and\u00a0policy\u00a0to\u00a0address\u00a0these\u00a0systemic\u00a0deprivations\u00a0that\u00a0threaten\u00a0to trap generations of children in poverty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oxford, 15 September 2026\u00a0\u2013 Nearly half of all children under 5 in developing regions are poor, undernourished, or both, according to a report published today by the Oxford Poverty and\u00a0Human\u00a0Development\u00a0Initiative\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0Universityof\u00a0Oxford.\u00a0The\u00a0report\u00a0sheds\u00a0new\u00a0light\u00a0on deprivations in child nutrition and school attendance across the developing world revealing important information on the scale and complexity of challenges facing children. The study&hellip;&nbsp;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1037,789,344,9,907,1046,914],"tags":[1048,387,1047,796,19,1049],"class_list":["post-34684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-family","category-health-and-income","category-parenting","category-population","category-poverty","category-race","tag-boys","tag-girls","tag-ignorance","tag-inequality","tag-learning","tag-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34686,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34684\/revisions\/34686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}