COMCEC
Malnutrition in the OIC Member
Countries: A Trap for Poverty
14 OIC countries have seen progress on all 3 indicators of under- and over-nutrition:
Afghanistan, Benin, Chad, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kirgizstan, Mauritania, Nigeria, Oman,
Pakistan, Somalia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This list includes very different countries. Half
are located in Sub-Saharan Africa (overall, one-third of Sub-Saharan African countries have
seen progress on all three indicators), 3 in Europe and Central Asia (50% of countries in this
region are in category I), 2 in the MENA region (12% are in category I) and 2 in South Asia
(50% are in category I). MENA countries are especially under-represented in this list as only 2
countries out 17 made it to this category. Interestingly, this list is dominated by poor countries.
Indeed, 6 of them are low-income and 6 others are lower middle-income countries, according
to the World Bank classification.
16 OIC countries have recorded progress on under-nutrition but a deterioration of over­
nutrition: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina-Faso, Gabon, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran,
Kazakhstan, Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Suriname, Tunisia and Turkey. These
countries are well spread geographically and it is difficult to identify a regional pattern (4 in
Sub-Saharan Arica, 4 in MENA, 3 in Europe and Central Asia, 2 in LAC and South Asia and 1 in
East Asia). However, 11 out of these 16 countries are high income (3) or upper-middle income
countries (8). This is consistent with the notion that economic development reduces under­
nutrition but can give rise to an increase in over-nutrition.
19 OIC countries have a mixed record on under-nutrition. 18 of them have seen progress on
stunting but a deterioration of wasting and only one (Cote d'Ivoire), the opposite. Out of these
19 countries, 13 have seen a concomitant increase in over-nutrition: Algeria, Cameroon,
Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Syria,
Turkmenistan and Uganda. Consistent with the finding above on countries with rising over­
nutrition, 8 out of these 13 countries are high income or upper middle income. Conversely, 5 of
the 6 countries which have experienced declining over-nutrition and a mixed evolution of
undernutrition (the Gambia, Lebanon, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Yemen) are low income or lower
middle income countries.
Finally, 2 OIC countries have seen deterioration of both under- and over-nutrition: these are
Albania and Mali (one low income and one upper middle income country).
To summarise, OIC followed a broadly similar trend than non-OIC countries on undernutrition,
although with higher prevalence levels and slightly slower progress (especially for stunting).
OIC countries have experienced a sharper rise in over-nutrition in the period leading up to
2005/09 but a very large decline thereafter, putting prevalence rate of overweight in the OIC
significantly below that of non-OIC countries.
Almost 60% of OIC countries (30 out 51) have experienced unambiguous decline in under­
nutrition over the last 20 years. Slightly more than half of these (16 out of 30) have
concomitantly recorded an increase in over-nutrition. These countries tend to be located at the
upper end of the income distribution whereas countries that reduced both under- and over­
nutrition tend to be poor. A large minority of OIC countries (37%) have posted a contrasted
trend of malnutrition: most of these have reduced stunting but seen wasting and overweight
deteriorate. Once again, these tend to be relatively well-off countries. Finally, two countries
only have seen malnutrition getting worse across the board (Albania and Mali).
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