Poverty and Human Development Report 2009 - UNDP in Tanzania

Table 13: Indicators of Malnutrition in Children Under Five Years, Urban-Rural,
1999 and 2004/05
1999 Mainland
Urban
Rural
2004/5 Mainland
Urban
Rural
Stunting (height-for-
age below -2SD)
44.0%
26.1
47.8
38.0%
26.0
40.9
Source: TRCHS 1999; TDHS 2004/05
Underweight (weight-
for-age below -2SD)
29.5%
20.7
31.4
21.9%
17.3
23.0
Wasting (weight-for-
height below -2SD)
5.3%
5.9
5.2
2.9%
2.9
2.9
Boys are marginally more likely to be malnourished on all three measures (stunting, underweight,
wasting) than girls. Rural children are more likely to be stunted (41%) than urban children (26%),
and more likely to be underweight (rural 23%, urban 17%). However, the urban-rural gap narrowed
between 1999 and 2004/05. A bigger drop was recorded in the proportion of rural children who
were malnourished compared with their urban peers.
Among rural children, there is limited correlation between risk of malnutrition and increased
household wealth status. Figure 22 shows that the risk of malnutrition is significantly lower only
for children in the least poor quintile. In each of the other four quintiles, over 40% of rural children
are short for their age (i.e., chronically undernourished). A much stronger relationship between
malnutrition and household wealth status is evident among urban children; the proportion of
urban children who are stunted steadily declines as household wealth increases.
Figure 22: Percentage Children Under Five Years with Low Height-for-Age,
Urban-Rural, by Wealth Quintile, 2004/05
% of children stunted
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
44.2% 45.8%
40.8%
Source: TDHS 2004/05
33.8%
24.6%
41.8% 41.6%
16.6%
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Wealth quintile (poorest to least poor)
31.1%
11.5%
CLUSTER II- GOAL 2
Rural
Urban
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