Childhood obesity has surpassed being underweight as the leading form of malnutrition globally for the first time, according to the release of the Child Nutrition Report 2025 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
In the Dominican Republic, the 2019 Enhogar MICS survey had already found that 8% of children under five are overweight. The report also highlights a low rate of exclusive breastfeeding, with only 16% of infants receiving breast milk for their first six months, a number that, despite a slight improvement from 4.7% in 2014, remains critically low.
“In the country, malnutrition manifests as both stunted growth and childhood obesity,” said Anyoli Sanabria, Unicef’s interim representative in the Dominican Republic. “There is an urgent need for comprehensive policies that ensure healthy and affordable food.”
The study points to unhealthy food environments that promote the consumption of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt, and fat. A 2024 Unicef global survey further revealed that 75% of young people had seen ads for fast food or sugary drinks in the past week, a figure even higher within the Dominican Republic.
The numbers show a clear and troubling trend. Since 2000, global obesity rates among children aged 5 to 19 have jumped from 3% to 9.4%. Over the same period, the percentage of underweight children dropped from 13% to 9.2%. Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced one of the most dramatic increases, with childhood overweight prevalence soaring by more than 10 percentage points over the last two decades.
The Unicef’s flagship Child Nutrition Report, “Feeding Profit: How food environments are failing children,” released 10 September 2025, notes a marked global trend of rising rates of childhood overweight and obesity. 188 million children and adolescents worldwide are living with obesity. This condition significantly increases their risk of serious, lifelong diseases.
The report concludes that — for the first time in history — obesity has overtaken underweight as the most prevalent form of malnutrition among school-aged children in all regions of the world except sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Based on the latest data drawn from over 190 countries, 1 in 5 children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 (an estimated 391 million) are living with overweight, while 1 in 10 (188 million) are living with obesity, placing them at risk of life-threatening disease.
The changing child malnutrition landscape, Unicef explains, is not caused by a sudden decline in children’s willpower or parental responsibility; rather, it is largely due to unhealthy food environments dominated by ultra-processed and fast foods. High in sugar, refined starch, salt, unhealthy fats and additives, these foods have become cheap, easy and appealing. Digital marketing gives the food and beverage industry powerful access to young audiences, and the market is saturated; children and adolescents are bombarded by these products everywhere, from shops to schools and digital spaces, the report notes.
Read more:
Unicef
Child Nutrition Report: Feeding Profit
CDN
11 September 2025