Based on data collected in 2021, on over 5000 children aged 50 to 59 months enrolled in Early Learning Programmes, the Thrive by Five Index (2022) originally reported stunting rates of 25 percent nationally
in this population of children. Following the launch of the Index in April 2022, further cleaning and analyses were done in order to prepare the data for open access. Through this process, it became evident that there were significant errors in the reported stunting rates.
In most reports on stunting rates, only the moderate and severe categories are included. Due to incorrect coding in the original Index analyses, the Thrive by Five report erroneously included all mild stunting along with moderate and severe stunting. This significantly inflated the stunting figures. This significantly inflated the stunting figures. When mildly stunted children are removed from the total, the percentage of children aged 50 to 59
months enrolled in ELPs who are classified as stunted drops from 25 to 6 percent nationally.
A full exploration of the updated Thrive by Five Index stunting rates is available in a technical brief published September 2022.
A brief outline of the updated Thrive by Five Index stunting rates is available in a Frequently Asked Questions document published September 2022.
