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World Health Organization · Health

South Africa: Underweight among adults, BMI < 18.5 kg/m2

5.30percent · 2024-1.9% since 2014

Underweight among adults, BMI < 18.5 kg/m2 (age-standardized estimate) (%). WHO Global Health Observatory indicator NCD_BMI_18A. Annual figures for South Africa from 1980 to 2024.

19852024

Every year

YearValue (percent)Note
20245.3
20235.3
20225.3
20215.3
20205.3
20195.3
20185.2
20175.3
20165.3
20155.3
20145.4
20135.4
20125.5
20115.5
20105.6
20095.7
20085.8
20076
20066.1
20056.2
20046.4
20036.5
20026.7
20016.8
20007
19997.1
19987.3
19977.4
19967.7
19958
19948.3
19938.5
19928.7
19918.9
19909.1
19899.3
19889.6
19879.8
198610.1
198510.3
198410.6
198310.8
198211.1
198111.4
198011.6

Source

Published by World Health Organization. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Retrieved 2026-11-08.

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Cite or download

World Health Organization (2026). Underweight among adults, BMI < 18.5 kg/m2. Interva. https://interva.co/dataset/who-ncd-bmi-18a (accessed 2026-11-14). catalog snapshot 2026-11-08.

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Underweight among adults, BMI < 18.5 kg/m2 in other countries

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South Africa: Underweight among adults, BMI < 18.5 kg/m2 (1980–2024) · Interva