On Aug. 16, 2007, PRB released its 2007 World Population Data Sheet. This year's theme is: "Malnutrition Is a Major Contributor to Child Deaths." Malnutrition is the underlying cause of about 16,000 child deaths every day. This data sheet provides up-to-date demographic, health, and environment data for all the countries and major regions of the world.

Malnutrition plays a role in the deaths of about 16,000 young children every day, virtually all of them in the developing world. That is a yearly toll of almost 6 million, about the same as the population of Denmark, Jordan, or Laos. By weakening resistance to infection and disease, malnutrition contributes to more than half the deaths of children under 5 worldwide.

The Population Reference Bureau's 2007 World Population Data Sheet and two companion reports released today offer detailed information about the prevalence of malnutrition worldwide, and its causes and consequences. These reports also highlight information about cost-effective solutions that could improve global nutrition.

"Malnutrition is the underlying cause of millions of deaths, but lacks public recognition because it does not kill young children directly, as does pneumonia or diarrhea," said Bill Butz, PRB's president. "Many of these deaths could be averted through nutrition measures that are known to be effective, often at low cost."

• Despite some important progress, about 30% of young children in low- and middle-income countries are underweight. The largest problems are in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. There are states in India, for example, in which almost half of all young children are underweight.
• Nearly 50% of all young children in the developing world do not receive enough iron in their diets, endangering their mental and physical development.
• At the same time, obesity is an intensifying problem in the United States and other industrialized nations—37% of U.S. men and 42% of U.S. women are obese. But levels also are rising in some developing nations: 21% of women are obese in Morocco, as are 34% of women in Mexico.

The 2007 World Population Data Sheet provides up-to-date demographic, health, and environment data for all the countries and major regions of the world. It points up vivid contrasts between developed and developing countries, as illustrated by the table below with data from the United States, Germany, and Ethiopia. (More news)

Download 2007 World Population Data Sheet

Pdf format, 776kb, 16pages.

PRB’s World Population Data Sheet is used around the world and is widely considered to be the most accurate source of information on population. If you value the Data Sheet and are among the tens of thousands of people who eagerly anticipate its publication each year, please consider making a contribution to PRB.

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The POPULATION REFERENCE BUREAU informs people around the world about population, health, and the environment, and empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and future generations.

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