Stunting
Topic: Human Capital: Education, Health and Demographic Dividend · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Stunting means a child is too short for their age. Under WHO growth standards, a child is counted as stunted if their height-for-age is more than 2 standard deviations below the median. In simple words, they are much shorter than normal for their age. Stunting reflects long-term (chronic) undernutrition and repeated infections. The damage is hard to reverse, so it weakens learning and future productivity.
Example
NFHS-5 (2019-21) found 35.5% of Indian children under 5 stunted, which is more than one in three.
Don't confuse with
- Wasting: this is low weight for height. It shows short-term (acute) undernutrition, such as after a recent illness or food shortage.
- Underweight: this is low weight for age. It is a combined measure of chronic and acute undernutrition.