So what are the numbers?
Let’s visualize the current situation of undernourishment with an image and graph.
Prevalence of undernourishment in Indonesia
If we look at the FAO Hunger Map 2015, we can see that the prevalence of undernourishment in Indonesia is somewhere between 5% and 14,9%, which is moderately low. However, compared to the majority of the countries in the world, Indonesia still has some work to do. But the good news is, Indonesia is making progress. Was it always like that?
Lets look a bit closer to the prevalence of undernourishment in Indonesia…
Did you know that 7.9% of the Indonesians were undernourished in 2015 and that this number used to be much higher in previous years? Look at that line going down after 2007; There has been a major drop of almost 10% from 2007 to 2015, isn’t that beautiful? This means that the country came from a moderately high to a moderately low status, according to the Hunger Map. However, 7.9% of a population with 258,316,051 inhabitants means that approximately 20,406,986 Indonesians are still undernourished. Which is a lot! So let’s continue to bring that line down!
[Source: The World Bank]
Written by: Jessica
Here are some fast statistical facts about the malnutrition situation in Indonesia, just to wrap your brain around the degree of the issue the country is faced with.
- 87 million Indonesians are faced with and are vulnerable to food insecurity.
- Many people are faced with stunting as a result of malnutrition, and there has been no significant progress in reducing stunting (at 37%).
- Indonesia has the 5th highest number of stunted children in the world. 1 of every 3 children in Indonesia are stunted and 9.5 million children under five years old are malnourished.
- 12% of children under five years old suffer from wasting (low weight for age) in Indonesia.
- 57%, or 2 out of 3 children under two years old, living in rural areas of Indonesia are anemic.
- Only 42% of children less than 6 months old are breastfed and only 36% of all children are getting the appropriate complementary food.
- 10% of adolescent girls from 15-19 years old are already mothers or pregnant with their first child. Pregnancy during this age creates a greater risk to their nutritional status and their children.
- It costs Indonesia more than US$5 billion every year due to malnutrition. This is due to the lost productivity because of poor education standards and decreasing physical capability.
- Diarrhea accelerates undernutrition and children suffer from this very frequently. Around 14% of all children in Indonesia suffer from diarrhea.
- Overweight and obesity in adults has doubled in the last decade, which increases the risk of non-communicable diseases, otherwise known as the double burden of malnutrition.
(Facts from the World Food Programme, 2014)
Written by Hannah Jin
Winata, J. (2014, December 22). 10 Facts About Malnutrition in Indonesia. Retrieved November 12, 2016, from https://www.wfp.org/stories/10-facts-about-malnutrition-indonesia