This global report examines how unhealthy food environments are shaping children’s and adolescents’ diets and contributing to the surge in overweight and obesity. It presents data on the status, trends and inequities in overweight and obesity in children and adolescents, and projects when obesity will overtake underweight as the more prevalent form of malnutrition. 

It also reviews the latest evidence on children’s and adolescents’ diets and investigates the key forces driving unhealthy food environments. We analysed data on nutritional status from the UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates database for children aged less than 5 years, and the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) for children and adolescents aged 5–19 years. Dietary data were sourced from the UNICEF Global Infant and Young Child Feeding databases for children aged 6–23 months, and the Global Diet Quality Project for adolescents aged 15–19 years. 

We present analysis from a global U-Report poll among adolescents and young people aged 13–24 years on their exposure to advertisements for sugary drinks, snacks and fast food. In addition, the report draws evidence from state-of the art reviews on commercially produced complementary foods, ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, and from UNICEF-supported studies on the drivers of unhealthy food environments.