UNICEF has published its Child Nutrition Report 2025, entitled “Feeding Profit: How Food Environments Are Failing Children,” which presents a stark picture of the global nutrition crisis affecting millions of children. The report describes the significant increase in overweight and obesity, the growing dominance of ultra-processed foods, and the influence of the food and beverage industry in shaping children’s diets.
According to UNICEF, childhood overweight and obesity are out of control. One in every twenty children below the age of five (5%) is considered overweight/obese. The scenario is even more severe among children aged 5 to 19 years, where an average of one out of five children faces weight problems (20%). This is no longer a problem confined to rich countries. The weight problems have also risen in low/middle-income countries, with 81% of the overweight children and adolescents (school age).
This report brings out a historical turning point. The global prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents (ages 5 to 19) just surpassed the prevalence of underweight in 2025 for the first time. Obesity affected 9.4% of this age group, compared to 9.2% who were underweight.
This marks a turning point in global child nutrition, reflecting a public health crisis. This crisis is based on the dietary practices of the youth. According to the survey, 60% of adolescents aged 15 to 19 had a sweetened drink or food in the past day. About 32% reported drinking soda, while 25% ate more than one salty processed food. Such consumption trends indicate how ultra-processed products have become integrated into the everyday diet.
Marketing plays a significant role in driving demand. Seventy-five percent of youths aged 13 to 24 reported seeing advertisements for sugary and processed foods in the previous week. The income group of the country varied in terms of exposure, with low-income having exposure of 65% and high-middle-income having 90%. According to UNICEF, this constant exposure affects the tastes of children and normalizes unhealthy diets.
T The report also highlights how the food and beverage industry often impedes progress. Through lobbying and political influence, producers and sellers of ultra-processed foods delay or weaken regulations designed to protect children. However, a few countries have taken bold action through policies such as restrictions on food marketing, clear nutrition labelling, enforceable school food standards, taxes on unhealthy foods, and subsidies on healthier alternatives.
Governments are urged to implement the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes of the WHO, implement robust legal frameworks on food marketing and food labelling, increase access to affordable, nutritious foods by subsidies and improved infrastructure, and implement measures to reduce industry influence. The report also proposes funding to campaigns that promote healthier behaviour change, improve social protection, e.g., cash transfer, food vouchers, amplified youth advocacy, and increase data systems to monitor child nutrition and food environments.
There is a powerful warning at the end of the report that millions of children will continue to grow up surrounded by cheap, aggressively marketed ultra-processed food unless immediate, coordinated, and large-scale action is taken. UNICEF points out that childhood obesity is not solely an individual issue; it is a systemic problem that requires transforming the environments that shape children’s diets. The only way to ensure that future generations have a chance of lasting protection is through collaboration between governments, communities, and industries.
References: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Child Nutrition Report 2025:Feeding Profit, How food environments are failing children. 2025. Child Nutrition Report 2025:Feeding Profit, How food environments are failing children
