NEW YORK/SUVA, June 7, 2024 – About 181 million children worldwide, including 1 in 6 children under 5 in the Pacific*, experience severe child food poverty. This makes them up to 50 percent more likely to suffer from wasting and micronutrient deficiencies, which is an immediately life-threatening form of malnutrition – a new UNICEF report found today.
For the first time, Child food poverty: nutritional deficiencies in early childhood analyzes the consequences and causes of nutritional deficiencies among the world’s youngest people in nearly 100 countries – including six Pacific islands – and across income groups. It warns that millions of children under the age of five do not have access to and cannot consume a nutritious and varied diet to support optimal growth and development in early childhood and beyond.
Children who consume no more than two of the eight defined food groups are considered to be in severe child food poverty. One in six children in the Pacific region is in this situation. These children are only fed breast milk/milk and/or a starchy staple food, such as rice, corn or wheat. Overall, of the nearly 100 countries analyzed, fewer than 10 percent of children living in severe child food poverty are fed fruits and vegetables. Less than 5 percent are fed nutrient-rich foods such as eggs, fish, poultry or meat.
“Children living in severe child food poverty are children living on the edge. This is currently the reality for millions of young children, and it can have an irreversible negative impact on their survival, growth and brain development,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. “Children who consume only two food groups per day, for example rice and some milk, are up to 50 percent more likely to develop severe forms of malnutrition.”
The report warns that while countries are still recovering from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences of growing inequality, conflict and the climate crisis have pushed food prices and the cost of living to record highs.
In Kiribati, a country severely impacted by the climate crisis, including drought and high sea level rise, 35 percent of children live in severe child food poverty and in the most vulnerable communities. Kiribati is followed by the Republic of the Marshall Islands with 29 percent, Samoa with 23 percent, Tuvalu with 14 percent, Tonga with 13 percent and Fiji with 8 percent.
“Of the 1,700 children under the age of five who die each year in the Pacific, 80 percent die before their first birthday,” said UNICEF Pacific Representative Jonathan Veitch. “Many of these children die from nutrition-related diseases rooted in a lack of access to healthy and affordable food, under subsidized healthcare systems and a lack of awareness of healthy eating habits among children, their families and communities in the Pacific. ”
Of the approximately 100 countries analyzed, the report finds that almost half (46 percent) of all cases of severe food poverty among children are among poor households where income poverty is likely to be a major cause, while 54 percent – or 97 million children – live in relatively wealthier households, with poor food environments and feeding practices being the main causes of food poverty in early childhood.
Several factors are fueling the child food poverty crisis worldwide, including food systems that fail to provide children with nutritious, safe and accessible options, the inability of families to afford nutritious food, and the inability of parents to adopt and maintain positive feeding practices for children to hold. In many contexts, cheap, nutrient-poor and unhealthy ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages are aggressively marketed to parents and families and are the new norm for feeding children. These unhealthy foods and drinks are being fed to an alarming proportion of young children living in child food poverty, crowding out more nutritious and healthy foods from their daily diets.
Pacific governments must act now to address the food safety crisis, including by introducing policies and regulations to protect, promote and support breastfeeding, and by controlling the marketing of unhealthy foods. They should promote healthier food options, redesign nutrition programs for preschoolers, primary and secondary schools, including coming up with new guidelines for food in and around educational institutions. The food system as a whole must be improved with the aim of preventing all forms of malnutrition.
UNICEF works in the Pacific with relevant ministries to improve the quality of health and nutrition services – preventive, promotional and curative. This also includes improving policies and regulations for a better food system that promotes healthier food options.
UNICEF works specifically with these ministries to implement high-quality, high-impact nutrition interventions and to promote policies and regulations that are more responsive to nutrition.
To end food poverty among children, UNICEF calls on governments, development and humanitarian organizations, donors, civil society and the food and drink industry to urgently:
- Transform food systems by introducing regulations to control the marketing of unhealthy foods so that nutritious, varied and healthy food is the most accessible, affordable and desirable option for caregivers to feed young children.
- Leverage health systems to provide essential nutrition services to prevent and treat malnutrition in early childhood, including support for community health and nutrition workers to advise parents and families on child feeding and care practices.
- Activate social protection systems that integrate food, agriculture and healthcare to address income poverty through social transfers (cash, food and vouchers), to respond to the food and nutrition needs of vulnerable children and their families.
To accelerate action to prevent, detect and treat severe food poverty and malnutrition in children, the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) was launched last year by UNICEF, with the support of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). The CNF is a UNICEF-led, multi-partner financing mechanism that drives domestic investment to end child malnutrition. UNICEF urges governments, donors and financial partners to support the CNF and prioritize sustainable policies and practices to end severe food poverty and malnutrition among children.
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Notes for editors:
*Includes only the Pacific countries analyzed in the report, including Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tonga and Fiji:
| Strict | Moderate | Severe and moderate | |
| Kiribati | 35 | 56 | 91.0 |
| Republic of Marshall Islands | 29 | 36 | 65.0 |
| Samoa | 23 | 57 | 80.0 |
| Tuvalu | 14 | 57 | 71.0 |
| Tonga | 13 | 34 | 47.0 |
| Fiji | 8 | 33 | 41.0 |
| AVERAGE | 15 | 41 | 65.8 |
Download the full report.
Categories of child food poverty
When children are fed:
With 0 to 2 food groups per day, they live in severe food poverty for children,
With three to four food groups per day, they live in moderate food poverty for children,
If they have five or more food groups per day, they are not living in child food poverty.
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