Factors Associated with Stunting, Underweight, and Wasting Among Children Under Five in Bangladesh: Evidence from the MICS 2025 Survey

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Background: Childhood malnutrition remains a major public health concern in Bangladesh despite two decades of progress. Using the latest nationally representative data from Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025, this study assesses the prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting among children under five and examines their association with child, maternal, household, and regional characteristics.. Methods: We analyzed data on 21,736 children under five years of age from MICS 2025. Rao-Scott chi-squared tests and survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression were used to examine associations between socio-demographic factors and each malnutrition outcome. Results: Weighted prevalence was 24% for stunting, 23% for underweight, and 13% for wasting. Stunting peaked at 12-35 months (AOR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.82-2.50 for 12-23 months), whereas underweight was highest at 48-59 months (AOR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.60-2.22). Girls had lower odds than boys of stunting (AOR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.85-0.99), underweight (AOR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.86-1.00), and wasting (AOR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.76-0.92). Children from the richest households had substantially lower odds of stunting (AOR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.41-0.56), underweight (AOR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.42-0.58), and wasting (AOR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.59-0.86). Maternal higher secondary education or above was protective against stunting (AOR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.47-0.69) and underweight (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.51-0.76). Children in Sylhet had higher odds of stunting (AOR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.15-1.64) and underweight (AOR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.18-1.67) than those in Barishal. Conclusions: Household wealth, children sex and birth order, maternal education, and geographic division are the main correlates of child malnutrition in Bangladesh. Equity-focused, region-specific interventions and continued national surveillance are needed to accelerate progress toward SDG 2.2.