Malnutrition is associated with half of all deaths in children under the age of five each year. The risk of death is particularly high for children with severe acute malnutrition, up to 20 times higher than a healthy child.

In developing countries 146 million children under the age of five are underweight, as defined by weight for age (one in four children). Sixty million children under the age of five are wasted (almost one in ten children).

The map below combines rates of underweight prevalence, as well as population density of underweight children. It therefore identifies where scarce resources will have a maximum impact. South Asia, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa are the most alarming hotspots for child malnutrition and mortality. Half of the deaths in children under five in developing countries occur in these regions.