UNICEF - Global Annual Results Report 2025 Goal Area 1

Global Annual Results Report 2025 Every child survives and thrives GOAL AREA 1: Child nutrition and developmentCover image: © UNICEF/UNI761709/Fashina Khadija, aged 6 months, is carried by her mother, Safiya, at Myetti Allah Primary Health Care Centre in Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna state, northern Nigeria.

Expression of thanks: © UNICEF/UNI845563/Dejongh Children in the village of Nambingue, northern Côte d’Ivoire, wait for a visit from a community health worker who will provide guidance on key nutrition and health practices.Expression of thanks UNICEF’s work for child nutrition and development is funded entirely through individual donations and the voluntary support of our partners in government, civil society and the private sector.

Voluntary contributions enable UNICEF to deliver on its mandate to protect children’s rights, to help meet their nutrition and development needs, and to expand opportunities to reach their full potential. We take this opportunity to thank all our partners for their commitment and trust in UNICEF. In particular, UNICEF would like to recognize the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; the European Commission; Global Affairs Canada; the Government of Germany; Irish Aid; the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the Government of Norway (Norad); Nutrition International; the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; the United States Government; the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Kirk Humanitarian; the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives; the Gates Foundation; the Conrad Hilton Foundation; and UNICEF National Committees in Portugal and the United States of America.Contents Executive summary .................................... 1 Strategic context .........................................4

Results: Child nutrition and development – 2025 ...................................7

Results Area 6: Nutrition in early childhood .....................................................9 Scaling up breastfeeding counselling and support ........................................................................10 Improving the quality and diversity of children’s first foods ..........................................................11 Reaching every child in need with life-saving vitamin A ..............................................................................14

development – 2025 ...................................7 Results Area 6: Nutrition in early childhood .....................................................9 Scaling up breastfeeding counselling and support ........................................................................10 Improving the quality and diversity of children’s first foods ..........................................................11 Reaching every child in need with life-saving vitamin A ..............................................................................14 Building enabling policies, systems and financing for nutrition ......................................................15 Protecting children’s right to nutrition through stronger legislation ..........................................16 Advancing early childhood development through policies, programmes and parenting support .............................................................18 Global advocacy, thought leadership and partnerships for nutrition and child development .....19 Results Area 7: Nutrition of school-age children, adolescents and women ..........21 Preventing all forms of malnutrition in school-age children and adolescents ........................... 22 Preventing malnutrition in women during pregnancy and breastfeeding......................................... 24 Data and knowledge to improve the nutrition of adolescents and women .............................................27 Results Area 8: Early detection and treatment of malnutrition ........................28 Scaling up services for the early detection and treatment of child wasting ...............................................29 Strengthening systems and integrating treatment of child wasting within primary care health care ..................................................................30 Mobilizing partnerships to drive global action on child wasting .....................................................32

Results: Humanitarian action ..................34

Lessons learned and looking forward .......................................................38 Endnotes ....................................................41 Financial annex ......................................... 431 Global Annual Results Report 2025 | UNICEF Executive summary In Sarawak, Malaysia, Elsa, age 6, shows what she has chosen for lunch: soy-braised deer meat, a fried chicken drummet, two slices of cucumber, chopped boiled tapioca shoots, and three baby blanched okra. © UNICEF/UNI834559/Sufari2 GOAL AREA 1: CHILD NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT | Every Child Survives and Thrives The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes every child’s right to nutrition and development. Through Goal Area 1 of its Strategic Plan 2022–2025, and guided by

GOAL AREA 1: CHILD NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT | Every Child Survives and Thrives The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes every child’s right to nutrition and development. Through Goal Area 1 of its Strategic Plan 2022–2025, and guided by its Nutrition Strategy 2030, UNICEF supports governments in protecting these rights through programmes that aim to prevent all forms of malnutrition in children, adolescents and women, and provide early detection and treatment of child wasting when prevention falls short. This report describes how UNICEF child nutrition and development programmes contributed to achieving results for children during this four-year Strategic Plan period. More children are realizing their right to nutrition and development than ever before. There are 57 million fewer children affected by stunting today than in 2000 and more children are surviving to see their fifth birthday. Access to key services and practices that protect children from malnutrition – such as exclusive breastfeeding, vitamin A supplementation and the early detection and treatment of child wasting – has also increased during this Strategic Plan period, highlighting that progress towards ending malnutrition is possible with the right policies, programmes and investments. At the same time, multiple global threats are jeopardizing child nutrition and development: increasing inequities, rising food prices, conflict and climate crises, and the proliferation of ultra-processed foods and harmful food environments. Within this context, UNICEF aimed to strengthen national systems to deliver nutritious diets, essential services and nurturing care practices to give every child the best chance to survive and thrive across the life course. In 2025, UNICEF implemented child nutrition and development programmes in 122 countries across three results areas: (1) nutrition in early childhood, including early stimulation and care; (2) nutrition of school-age children, adolescents and women; and (3) early detection and treatment of malnutrition. UNICEF also played a crucial role in global advocacy, thought leadership and knowledge generation to end child food poverty and

early stimulation and care; (2) nutrition of school-age children, adolescents and women; and (3) early detection and treatment of malnutrition. UNICEF also played a crucial role in global advocacy, thought leadership and knowledge generation to end child food poverty and tackle the triple burden of malnutrition. In the results area of nutrition in early childhood, UNICEF contributed to increasing the coverage of key preventative nutrition services for children during the 2022–2025 Strategic Plan period. Overall, 423 million children and caregivers in 78 countries were reached with policies, programmes and services for the prevention of malnutrition, an increase from 300 million in the baseline year of 2021 and surpassing the 2025 target. In 2025, UNICEF supported counselling and education on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) for 102 million caregivers – the highest number ever reached and a 77 per cent increase from the 57.5 million caregivers reached in

2021. In 2025, 68 countries provided social protection services to improve access to and affordability of diverse and nutritious foods, compared with 52 at baseline. An estimated 21.2 million children received micronutrient powders in 2025 to improve the nutrient quality of homeprepared foods – a more than 55 per cent increase from 13.6. million in 2021.

UNICEF oversaw the delivery of more than 450 million vitamin A capsules to 60 countries in 2025 and supported countries to integrate vitamin A supplementation (VAS) within routine primary health care services. In 2025, more than 310.9 million children were reached with VAS – a 23 per cent increase from about 252.5 million children in 2021. With UNICEF support, 80 countries reported having national policies, strategies and plans for the prevention of malnutrition in 2025, up from 66 at baseline in 2021, achieving the Strategic Plan target. Between 2022 and 2025, more than half (53 per cent) of

reported having national policies, strategies and plans for the prevention of malnutrition in 2025, up from 66 at baseline in 2021, achieving the Strategic Plan target. Between 2022 and 2025, more than half (53 per cent) of children aged 24–59 months received early stimulation and responsive care from their parents and caregivers in 78 UNICEF programme countries with data. Moreover, 57 per cent of UNICEF country offices (74 countries) met the organizational benchmarks for providing integrated parenting support programmes, compared with 25 per cent in 2021, exceeding the target. In the results area of nutrition of school-age children, adolescents and women, UNICEF supported a dramatic scale-up in services to prevent malnutrition, more than doubling the number of children reached over the fouryear Strategic Plan period. The number of children and adolescents receiving key preventive services, such as weekly iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation and programmes to improve school food environments, rose from 67 million in 2021 to more than 158 million children and adolescents in 2025, surpassing the 2025 target. UNICEF supported 71 countries to improve policies, programmes and advocacy for the prevention of all forms of malnutrition during middle childhood and adolescence, compared with 48 countries in 2021. In 2025, UNICEF supported gender-responsive anaemia prevention programmes for adolescent girls and boys using schooland community-based approaches in 49 countries, compared with 28 countries in 2021, surpassing the Strategic Plan target. With UNICEF support, 60 countries implemented policies and programmes to prevent overweight and obesity – nearly double the number reached in 2021 (31 countries) and surpassing the Strategic Plan target. To support women’s nutrition, anaemia prevention and nutrition counselling were integrated into pregnancy care programmes in 49 countries in 2025, compared with 30 countries in 2021. The number of countries integrating preventive IFA supplementation as part of

the Strategic Plan target. To support women’s nutrition, anaemia prevention and nutrition counselling were integrated into pregnancy care programmes in 49 countries in 2025, compared with 30 countries in 2021. The number of countries integrating preventive IFA supplementation as part of antenatal care also increased steadily, from 85 in 2021 to 96 in 2025. With the support of these programmes, the percentage of pregnant women benefiting from anaemia prevention programmes increased by 8 percentage points, from 37.4 per cent in 2021 to 45.3 per cent in

2025. UNICEF continued to advance the implementation of its Acceleration Plan to Prevent Malnutrition and Anaemia During Pregnancy (2024–2026)1 in 16 priority countries, supporting the scale-up of a package of3

Global Annual Results Report 2025 | UNICEF nutritional interventions, including multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS), as part of routine antenatal care. UNICEF supported governments to transition from IFA to MMS, with 40 countries including MMS as part of their antenatal care package in 2025, compared with 29 countries in 2021. In the results area of early detection and treatment of malnutrition, UNICEF scaled up services to screen more children for wasting than ever before and sustain lifesaving treatment for those in need. More than 255 million children under 5 were screened across 54 countries in 2025, compared with 154.4 million children in 2021. Of these, 9 million children with severe wasting were admitted for treatment, surpassing the annual target, and 89 per cent of these children recovered. In 2025, some 82 countries integrated the early detection and treatment of child wasting into primary health care services (compared with 67 in 2021), strengthening government ownership and sustainability. UNICEF also supported 50 national governments to update their protocols to reflect the latest 2023 World Health Organization (WHO) guideline

countries integrated the early detection and treatment of child wasting into primary health care services (compared with 67 in 2021), strengthening government ownership and sustainability. UNICEF also supported 50 national governments to update their protocols to reflect the latest 2023 World Health Organization (WHO) guideline on child wasting. In 2025, 82 countries strengthened the capacities of health systems to detect and treat child wasting by integrating these services as part of training for community workers (compared with 73 in 2021). This community workforce played an important role in bringing child wasting services closer to families and communities, including by training more than 1.4 million caregivers to identify children with wasting using simple colour-coded measurement tapes and refer them to treatment services. UNICEF continued to protect nutrition in humanitarian crises in the face of an increasing number, scale and intensity of emergencies in 2025, including in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and the Middle East and North Africa, with famine declarations in Gaza and the Sudan. In the context of significant global funding constraints, UNICEF prioritized the most urgent needs in targeted geographical areas and populations, including through its role as sector and cluster lead. UNICEF’s experiences in 2025 continue to underscore the importance of resilient systems that can make nutritious foods available, withstand shocks and deliver life-saving nutrition services, while anticipating future emergencies. With five years to go before the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline, UNICEF will continue strengthening food, health and social protection systems to improve young children’s access to local, climate-resilient, nutritious foods, including in fragile and humanitarian contexts. UNICEF will also continue its support to governments to strengthen policies and programmes to transform food systems for children and leverage education platforms to influence healthy behaviours for school-age children and adolescents. UNICEF is embarking on a new four-year Strategic Plan in a period of immense challenges and upheaval. To continue driving progress towards the SDGs despite

programmes to transform food systems for children and leverage education platforms to influence healthy behaviours for school-age children and adolescents. UNICEF is embarking on a new four-year Strategic Plan in a period of immense challenges and upheaval. To continue driving progress towards the SDGs despite the roadblocks, UNICEF and its partners must become even better coordinated and more efficient, leveraging innovative financing opportunities, such as the Child Nutrition Fund, to obtain greater nutrition results with fewer resources and create incentives for governments to increase domestic investments and fulfill their obligations as duty bearers for child nutrition and development.4 GOAL AREA 1: CHILD NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT | Every Child Survives and Thrives Strategic context Sagita holds her one-year-old child Azzah in a field in Mountain Latimojong, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

© UNICEF/UNI860435/Chair5

Global Annual Results Report 2025 | UNICEF Global gains in child nutrition and development over the past two decades have set more children on the path to thrive than ever before. Since 2000, the number of children suffering from stunting has declined by 57 million (see Figure 1) and under-five mortality has reached a historic low, resulting in the largest-ever cohort of surviving children and an important opportunity for human capital development globally. Still, malnutrition continues to undermine the right to survival, growth and development for far too many children globally. An estimated 150 million children under 5 years of age are affected by stunting and 43 million are suffering from wasting. Meanwhile, the prevalence of obesity among school-age children and adolescents has surpassed that of underweight, with lowand middleincome countries experiencing the steepest rise (see Figure 2). Child food poverty, which refers to the poor quality of children’s diets, affects one in four children under 5 in its most severe form and is a leading cause of malnutrition, constraining progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS). It is driven by limited access to

Figure 2). Child food poverty, which refers to the poor quality of children’s diets, affects one in four children under 5 in its most severe form and is a leading cause of malnutrition, constraining progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS). It is driven by limited access to nutritious foods, the proliferation of unhealthy foods, poor feeding practices and household income poverty. FIGURE 1: Percentage of children under 5 affected by stunting, wasting and overweight, global, 2000–2024 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 20052000 2010 2015 20242020 23.2 5.5 6.6 33.1 5.3 8.8 Overweight Percentage Stunting Wasting 95% confidence intervals Between 2022 and 2025, one-third of children aged 24–59 months were developmentally off track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being in the 72 countries with data. Further, 55 per cent of children aged 24–59 months in 78 UNICEF programme countries with data received early stimulation and responsive care from their caregivers. The 2022–2025 period presented significant roadblocks that risked undermining children’s right to nutrition and development: a global food and nutrition crisis in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of conflicts, complex emergencies and famines, the rising impacts of climate shocks and stresses and declines in official development assistance – all of which threatened to flatline or reverse progress towards the SDGs, including an end to malnutrition in all its forms. Within this challenging context, UNICEF worked with governments to strengthen national systems and invest in the scale-up of policies and programmes to improve access to nutritious diets, high-quality nutrition services, nurturing care practices and essential supplies for every child.6 GOAL AREA 1: CHILD NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT | Every Child Survives and Thrives

governments to strengthen national systems and invest in the scale-up of policies and programmes to improve access to nutritious diets, high-quality nutrition services, nurturing care practices and essential supplies for every child.6 GOAL AREA 1: CHILD NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT | Every Child Survives and Thrives FIGURE 2: Trends in the percentage of children and adolescents with (a) obesity; and (b) severe wasting/underweight, 2000 to the latest and projections to 2030, by age group, globally 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 0–4 years 5–9 years 10–14 years 5–19 years 15–19 years 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 2019 2028 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 2029 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2025 2030 Obesity Severe wasting/ underweight Projection based on historical trend7 Global Annual Results Report 2025 | UNICEF Results: Child nutrition and development – 2025

Khadija feeds her 20-month-old child Wakilatu Hakim at home in Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana. © UNICEF/UNI848398/Kokoroko8 GOAL AREA 1: CHILD NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT | Every Child Survives and Thrives UNICEF child nutrition and development programmes contribute to Goal Area 1 of the UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2022–2025, “Every child survives and thrives”.2 These programmes advance the achievement of SDG 2, including an end to malnutrition in all its forms. UNICEF integrates the components of the nurturing care framework throughout its programming to optimize early childhood development (ECD) and set children on the path to survive and thrive. In 2025, guided by its Nutrition Strategy 20303 and Vision for Early Childhood Development 2030,4 UNICEF implemented maternal and child nutrition and development programmes in 122 countries, scaling its efforts to improve access to nutritious and affordable foods, essential nutrition services and positive care practices for children, adolescents and women. This work sought to deliver results for children across three results areas: (1) nutrition in early childhood, including early stimulation and care; (2) nutrition of school-age children, adolescents and women; and (3) early detection and treatment of malnutrition. Between 2022 and 2025, UNICEF child nutrition and development programmes aimed to strengthen the capacity and accountability of national systems – food, health, water, education and social protection – to give every child the best opportunity to survive, grow and develop to his or her full potential. UNICEF also leveraged its thought leadership to influence global policies and advanced partnerships to put child nutrition and development on the global agenda, expanded financing opportunities and investments in nutrition, scaled emergency nutrition response amid rising global crises and launched innovative and localized initiatives to improve the quality of children’s diets and delivery of nutrition services. In the final year of its 2022–2025 Strategic Plan,

and development on the global agenda, expanded financing opportunities and investments in nutrition, scaled emergency nutrition response amid rising global crises and launched innovative and localized initiatives to improve the quality of children’s diets and delivery of nutrition services. In the final year of its 2022–2025 Strategic Plan, UNICEF achieved all of its targets, with the following headline results: • 423 million children under 5 years of age and their caregivers in 78 countries were reached with policies, programmes and services for the prevention of malnutrition in early childhood, exceeding the 2025 target of at least 300 million (baseline: 300 million children in 2021). • 158 million school-age children and adolescents in 71 countries were reached with policies, programmes and services for the prevention of anaemia, overweight and other forms of malnutrition, exceeding the 2025 target of at least 90 million (baseline: 67 million children and adolescents in 2021). • More than 255.3 million children under 5 were screened for wasting in 54 countries; of these, 9 million children with severe wasting were admitted for life-saving treatment (baseline: 154.4 million children screened and 5.4 million treated in 2021).9 Global Annual Results Report 2025 | UNICEF Results Area 6: Nutrition in early childhood A one-year-old child eats food mixed with egg powder during the Egg Powder Initiative for Children launch event in Kamwenge District, Uganda. The initiative aims to prevent malnutrition and improve children’s access to safe, affordable, nutritious complementary foods (see ‘First Foods’ case study).

© UNICEF/UNI786801/Abdul10

GOAL AREA 1: CHILD NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT | Every Child Survives and Thrives The prevention of all forms of malnutrition in early childhood protects child survival and sets children on the path to optimal growth, development and learning across the life course. Prevention includes services to protect, promote and support breastfeeding;

The prevention of all forms of malnutrition in early childhood protects child survival and sets children on the path to optimal growth, development and learning across the life course. Prevention includes services to protect, promote and support breastfeeding; improve complementary foods and feeding practices; promote nutrient supplementation (including vitamin A supplementation combined with deworming prophylaxis and home-based fortification with multiple nutrients); and improve children’s food environments to prevent overweight and obesity. In 2025, a record 423 million children under 5 years of age were reached with services to prevent malnutrition in early childhood – a 26 per cent increase from the 2021 baseline of 336.4 million and surpassing the year’s target of at least 300 million (see Figure 7). In the final year of its Strategic Plan 2022–2025, UNICEF continued to develop updated guidance and provide advocacy, policy and programme support to 55 countries to improve breastfeeding and complementary feeding policies and programmes for infants and young children. Scaling up breastfeeding counselling and support UNICEF supports governments in equipping caregivers with the knowledge, skills and support to improve breastfeeding and child feeding practices through health care facilities and community platforms. In 2025, UNICEF supported counselling and education on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) for 102 million caregivers – the highest number ever reached and a 77 per cent increase from the 57.5 million caregivers reached in the baseline year of

2021. This counselling and education scale-up is reflected in significant national level achievements, such as in Burkina Faso, where the scale-up of IYCF counselling and education reached 1.5 million pregnant and breastfeeding women in 2025 – double the number reached in 2021 at baseline (725,000) and surpassing the target of 1.2 million.

Together with community engagement and strengthened national policies and frameworks to protect breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding in the country has nearly doubled

women in 2025 – double the number reached in 2021 at baseline (725,000) and surpassing the target of 1.2 million. Together with community engagement and strengthened national policies and frameworks to protect breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding in the country has nearly doubled over the past decade, from 47.2 per cent to 72.5 per cent.5 To improve breastfeeding rates, UNICEF helped build the capacities of health care providers, including community health and nutrition workers, to provide counselling and education to mothers and caregivers on infant feeding in 111 countries. In the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, for example, exclusive breastfeeding rose to an estimated 57 per cent in 2025 – an achievement underpinned by the support of a network of breastfeeding advisors trained and accredited by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF to lead breastfeeding counselling across all 18 provincial hospitals in the country. In 2025, UNICEF provided technical support to update the Lao national training package for breastfeeding counselling and align it with the global best practices outlined in UNICEF’s community IYCF counselling package. UNICEF continued to strengthen national capacities to institutionalize breastfeeding support within health care facilities via the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). © UNICEF/UNI907275/Ramasomanana A child is breastfed by his mother during World Breastfeeding Week at Ambohimanarina Basic Health Centre in Antananarivo Renivohitra District, Madagascar. Children are protected from malnutrition in early childhood – stunting and wasting, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity – in development and humanitarian contexts.11 Global Annual Results Report 2025 | UNICEF The UNICEF/WHO BFHI monitoring manual was released, offering practical guidance to countries for improving the performance of breastfeeding support programmes. UNICEF provided capacity-building support to 12 countries to integrate the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) as a standard of care across maternal and newborn health services, in line with the UNICEF/WHO BFHI

offering practical guidance to countries for improving the performance of breastfeeding support programmes. UNICEF provided capacity-building support to 12 countries to integrate the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) as a standard of care across maternal and newborn health services, in line with the UNICEF/WHO BFHI Implementation Guidance. This included strengthening national systems to embed the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding within routine service delivery, quality improvement processes, health worker competency building, and monitoring, shifting from facility designation towards institutionalized, sustainable practices that improve breastfeeding support at scale. FIGURE 3: Percentage of infants under 6 months of age who are exclusively breastfed 44% 48% Baseline 2021 2025 Milestone (2025) Target (2030) 50% 70%

2025 REPORTING COUNTRIES 91 4% INCREASE from 2021

Target Value In Kenya, UNICEF supported the strengthening and integration of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding as a standard of care across all health facilities through the Baby-Friendly Health Facility Initiative. To build capacity within the health system and enable systemwide adoption of the Ten Steps, UNICEF suppo