Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The percentage of underweight and wasted children in Madhya Pradesh is more than double the national average. And in last one year, the percentage of stunted children has grown while that of underweight children has remained unchanged in the state.
According to Poshan Tracker, in August 2026, 7% of children in the 0-5 years age group in the state were wasted. This is more than double the national average of 3%.
Similarly, 23% of children were underweight while the national average was 11%. The all-India percentage of stunted children was 28% while the corresponding figure of MP was 39%.
The percentage of stunted children (too short for their age) in the state has grown from 35% to 39% over the past year.
In the same period, the percentage of underweight children remained steady at 23% while that of wasted children (too thin for their age) dropped from 8% to 7%.
In Bhopal, 30% of children are stunted, 4% are wasted and 15% are underweight. In Indore, 31% children are stunted, 4% are wasted and 17% are underweight.
In both cities, the percentage of stunted children has increased in past year, from 24% to 30% in Bhopal and from 26% to 31% in Indore. In Ujjain, the percentage of wasted children went up from 31% to 35% and of underweight from 22% to 23%.
In three districts, nearly half of the children are shorter in height than they should be for their age. In Sheopur, 51% of the children are stunted. The corresponding figures for Shivpuri and Ashoknagar are 48% and 47% respectively.
In the tribal dominated district of Balaghat, 36% children were stunted, 32% were underweight and 15% were wasted.
The corresponding figures for another tribal district Dindori were 38%, 24% and 6% respectively. It was 34%, 19% and 3% in Jhabua and 35%, 24% and 9% in Betul respectively.
Poshan Tracker is a governance and nutrition monitoring mobile application launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on March 1, 2021, to support Mission Poshan 2.0.
Obesity new challenge
Amid widespread malnourishment, obesity among kids is emerging as a new challenge in the state. The percentage of obese children in the state has increased from 2% to 3% in last one year.
The districts with a high percentage of malnourishment also have a higher proportion of obese children.
In Shivpuri and Ashoknagar, where almost half of the children are stunted, 7% are overweight while in Bhopal and Indore, where around one-third are stunted, the percentage of obese children is two.
