Objective:

To describe the undernutrition prevalence, as well as some sociodemographic characteristics associated to stunting in children under five years old, living on localities with less than 100 000 inhabitants in Mexico in 2012 and 2018.

Material and methods:

Low weight, stunting and wasting prevalences were calculated in children under 5y according to WHO Growth Reference. A comparison of stunting by sociodemographic and diet diversity variables is presented. Multi-variated logistic models between chronic malnutrition and sociodemographic variables were calculated.

Results:

In 2018, 4.4% of the individuals suffered low weight, 14.9% stunting and 1.5 % wasting. Stunting was greater in indigenous households (24.5%), households from the lower socioeconomic-index tertile (17.5%), and households with moderated/severe food insecurity (15.3%). Stunting was positively associated with indigenous condition; on the other hand a highly diverse diet resulted to be a protective factor against it.

Conclusions:

A high prevalence of chronical malnutrition was documented associated with high poverty conditions. It is important to enforce strategies aimed to contain it, mainly in such populations with greater social deprivation.