Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of children who suffer from undernutrition in the UK.

Estimates of the number of children who suffer from ‘undernutrition’ is not available.

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) reports the number of children who are underweight in England. NCMP data for 2019/20 shows that the number of underweight children in England aged four to five years old is 3,771 out of 399,470 measured (0.9%) and the number of children aged 10-11 years old is 6,969 out of 491,138 measured (1.4%). This is stable compared with previous years and is below the 2% level expected in a healthy population. This data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/national-child-measurement-programme/2019-20-school-year

Underweight may reflect undernutrition in a child but may also reflect a small build. A child of any weight status (underweight, healthy weight, overweight or obese) may suffer from undernutrition if a diet is lacking the nutrients required for healthy growth.