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What is child stunting — and how has it changed over the last 200 years? Stunting means being too short for one’s age due to chronic undernutrition and disease in early life. It’s one of the clearest markers of cumulative deprivation in childhood. 1)

Why does it matter? Stunting is associated with: • Higher child mortality • Impaired cognitive development • Lower adult earnings • Worse health across the life course It reflects the biological imprint of social and economic conditions. 2)

But here’s the key question: What happened before modern surveys? How common was stunting in the 19th century? During industrialisation? In early 20th-century Europe or East Asia? Until now, we didn’t have systematic global evidence. 4)

In our new paper (BMJ Global Health), we systematically collected 923 historical growth studies covering 122 countries from 1814–2016. By harmonising height-by-age data, we reconstruct stunting patterns over two centuries. Link: doi.org/10.1136/bmjg... 5)

@ourworldindata.org @maxroser.bsky.social @hannahritchie.bsky.social Not sure if it is easier to reach you all here or on email, but I wondered if Our World In Data would be interested in incorporating our new data into its articles on child stunting, malnutrition and adult stature.

The historical picture is striking: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, stunting was widespread — even in countries that are high-income today. Large shares of children in Europe, North America, and East Asia were stunted by today’s standards. 6)