Something striking just happened in global nutrition: As of 2025, children worldwide are now more likely to be obese than underweight.

According to UNICEF’s new Child Nutrition Report, about 9.4 percent of school-age kids (ages 5–19) are living with obesity, compared to 9.2 percent who are underweight. Twenty-five years ago, the gap was much wider: Nearly 13 percent of kids were underweight, while just 3 percent had obesity. Over time, those lines have converged and flipped.

It might feel odd to put obesity in the same bucket as underweight; one has long been seen as a problem of scarcity, the other of excess. But public health experts now define both as forms of malnutrition, which they describe in three dimensions: not enough food, too much of the wrong food, and hidden hunger from micronutrient deficiencies.

There’s a silver lining in this crossover: Fewer kids are dangerously thin than two decades ago. That decline really matters, because being underweight can mean stunted height, impaired brain development, weak immunity, and in worst cases, a higher risk of death. So, the fact that those numbers are falling is genuine progress.

But it’s overshadowed by how quickly obesity has surged, with 188 million children now living with it — though where it shows up most varies widely by region.

Obesity in children isn’t just about size; it raises risks for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and even certain cancers later in life. Starting so young makes the costs even higher. By 2035, being overweight and obesity are expected to drain more than $4 trillion a year globally — about 3 percent of the world’s GDP.

UNICEF bases that 2025 crossover........

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