When it comes to the nutritional statistics of children, we always tend to look at the overall picture. However, the fact is that this number varies from country to country and even as per gender. Let us get one fact out of the way.  There are only a few industrialized nations that have very few or no malnourished children. The harsh reality is that the Asian and African continents together make up more than ninety percent of these statistics. The new wave of urbanization means that more and more families are migrating to cities in these continents. This has caused a huge surge in the urban malnourishment numbers.

Gender selection is another grim reality in these continents. The girl child is still considered inferior, even though there is a significant well-educated middle class and upper class population in both Asia and Africa. The rise in poverty levels and the widening chasm between different levels of society means that malnutrition among the girl child is at record high levels. More often than not, the girl child is abandoned or left to fend for herself at a very young age. The second reality is that people looking for adopting kids still prefer boys to girls. As a result, today the girl child is fighting harder than ever to survive and get the nutrition that her body requires on a daily basis.