Malnutrition Costs the Philippines 3% of GDP Annually, Nutrition International Estimate Shows

Nutrition International, a global nutrition organization bringing technical expertise and advocacy to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable populations, recently highlighted the heavy economic cost of malnutrition at a media workshop. Through its proprietary Cost of Inaction Tool, Nutrition International revealed that undernutrition costs the Philippines about $8.5 billion annually—nearly 3% of its GDP.

The Philippines faces a significant malnutrition crisis, with 3.4 million children under 5 suffering from stunting. Stunting alone costs the nation $8.1 billion per year, placing the Philippines as having the sixth highest prevalence in East Asia and the Pacific and the 36th highest globally (out of 175 countries).

Compounding this issue, the country holds the highest prevalence of low birthweight in East Asia and the Pacific and ranks 5th globally (out of 200 countries), resulting in an additional $3.3 billion annual loss. Furthermore, anemia affects nearly 1.5 million children aged 6 to 59 months, underscoring the urgent need for strategic interventions.

The Philippine government has taken commendable steps to address the malnutrition burden with the launch of the Philippines Plan of Action for Nutrition 2023 – 2028, a roadmap of nutrition interventions to address malnutrition in the country currently under the stewardship of National Nutrition Council (NNC).

Last year, the NNC adopted the Cost of Inaction tool to strengthen the country’s ability to assess the financial impact of malnutrition, develop strategic and data-driven interventions to reduce its prevalence and long-term consequences, and call for investments in key priority areas.

Nutrition International has been providing technical assistance to the NNC in piloting the Cost of Inaction tool in Iloilo Province to advocate for nutrition financing by the local government unit (LGU). The analyses, if adopted in other provinces in PH, aims to aide LGUs in developing their local nutrition action plan, and encourage increased investments in nutrition.

Nutrition International’s Cost of Inaction Tool is an online, evidence-based tool that estimates the annual health, human capital, and economic costs of stunting, low birthweight, and anemia across more than 140 countries. It is designed to support enhanced policymaking and investment decisions.

Investing in innovative tools like the Cost of Inaction Tool, which can be integrated into various campaigns to tackle malnutrition and its impacts, is more critical than ever. As the Philippines works toward its Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Assembly’s 2025 targets and prepares its commitments for the Nutrition for Growth Summit in March 2025, the adoption of this tool comes at a pivotal moment. In order to make meaningful commitments at these global events, the Philippines government has data on the economic costs of not investing in nutrition and understands the potential economic benefits of targeted nutrition interventions. Tools like the Cost of Inaction Tool can empower governments to build strong data-driven investment cases by demonstrating how specific interventions can yield both public health gains and economic returns.

For more information on the Cost of Inaction Tool, visit Nutrition International’s Cost of Inaction Tool resource. For further details or quotes, feel free to reach out to Leona-Liu Van Looveran (llooveren@NutritionIntl.org) or Jigyasa Nawani (Jnawani@NutritionIntl.org). (MCN)