Socioeconomic and Geographic Patterns of Stunting, Wasting and Overweight among Children under Five in Bangladesh: A Descriptive Secondary Analysis of MICS 2025

Childhood malnutrition in Bangladesh includes persistent undernutrition alongside emerging overweight. Recent nationally representative data are needed to describe how these outcomes vary geographically and across socioeconomic groups To describe national and geographic patterns of stunting, wasting, severe wasting, and overweight among children under five years in Bangladesh using aggregate findings from the Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025 Preliminary Report, and to examine socioeconomic gradients for the indicators for which the preliminary report provides disaggregated estimates. This study used a descriptive secondary-data analysis with narrative contextualization. Aggregate estimates were extracted from the Bangladesh MICS 2025 Preliminary Report. National prevalence was summarized for stunting, wasting, severe wasting, and overweight; divisional estimates were compared for stunting, wasting, and overweight; and socioeconomic stratification was examined for stunting and wasting by place of residence, household wealth, maternal education, and child age where reported. No individual-level microdata were available to the authors, and no regression, reweighting, or causal analysis was performed. Published literature was used selectively to contextualize observed patterns rather than as a systematically synthesized evidence base. Nationally, 24% of children under five were stunted, 13% were wasted, 2.5% were severely wasted, and 1.7% was overweight. Stunting was highest in Sylhet (32%) and lowest in Khulna (21%); wasting was highest in Rajshahi (15%) and lowest in Dhaka (11%); and overweight was highest in Dhaka (3.4%) and lowest in Rangpur (0.9%). Stunting showed a marked wealth gradient, from 32.0% in the poorest quintile to 10% in the richest, and varied by maternal education from 34% among children of mothers with no/pre-primary education to 10% among children of mothers with higher education. Rural children had higher stunting and wasting prevalence than urban children in the reported summary. MICS 2025 shows persistent geographic and socioeconomic inequalities in child undernutrition, alongside geographic variation in childhood overweight. The findings are descriptive and should not be interpreted as evidence that specific regional or socioeconomic characteristics cause malnutrition. Future analyses using individual-level MICS data should assess adjusted associations and potential pathways.

Child malnutrition, geographic disparities, overweight, socioeconomic inequalities, stunting, wasting, MICS 2025 Bangladesh

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