DUBAI - Almost one-third of children in Egypt are malnourished, the daily Egyptian Gazette reported on Sunday, citing a report by the Ministry of Health and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The report said the percentage of malnourished children below the age of five in the Arab world’s most populous country has increased from to 29 percent from 23 percent in 2000, the newspaper reported.
The Egyptian Demographic Health Survey collected data in 2007 and 2008, the years when the country’s economy grew more than 7 percent, the report said, noting that high gross domestic product growth has not benefited ordinary citizens.
Economic conditions in Egypt vary from depravation to opulence, with the government struggling to provide decent living conditions for a big chunk of the country's more 80 million population.
Hala Abu Khatwa, head of communications in Egypt for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), was quoted on a U.N.-related website as saying that between 2005 and 2008 the risk of extreme poverty increased by almost 20 percent in the country of 80 million people.
Southern Egypt is home to 70 percent of the country's poor.