Thinness is a major underlying problem among Indian children.

The incidence of child undernutrition is high around the world, particularly alarming in the developing countries. This cross-sectional investigation has been undertaken among rural primary school-going children residing in Phansidewa block of Darjeeling district. The study sample was 2111 children (1028 boys; 1083 girls) aged 5-12 years. Height, weight was taken and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The recent international cut-off of BMI of Cole et al. was used to assess the prevalence of thinness. The overall mean BMI among boys and girls were 14.01 ± 1.57 kg m(-2) and 14.17 ± 1.87 kg m(-2) respectively (p < 0.05). A very high prevalence was observed in overall thinness (71.11% boys; 67.77% girls, p > 0.05) in the different grades of thinness. Child undernutrition (thinness) is a major underlying problem in Indian rural children, especially in rural West Bengal, where appropriate nutritional intervention strategies are necessary to improve their nutritional status.