29% of Rural Children Said to Be Malnourished

Nearly one-third of children in China's poorest areas suffer from malnutrition, the government said, underscoring the country's growing economic divide.

Citing a report from the Beijing-based Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, the official New China News Agency said 29% of children below 5 in poverty-stricken regions of China's Yunnan, Guizhou and Qinghai provinces were malnourished. By contrast, it said, child malnutrition in urban areas stood at 1%.

The agency said the survey was conducted among more than 200,000 people, including 23,400 children, across the country.