Masbate, CamSur top Bicol malnutrition list

By Bobby Q. Labalan

SORSOGON CITY --- Two Bicol provinces figured prominently in the malnutrition list of the National Nutrition Council (NNC) for 2025, the agency’s report published in its website revealed.

Masbate continuously leads the statistics, ranking highest both at the regional and national levels for wasting children with a 4.49 percent prevalence, matching its 2024 placement.

Camarines Sur followed in second place at 1.83 percent, with Sorsogon and Catanduanes closely tied at 1.72 percent. Albay and Camarines Norte recorded lower but notable wasting rates at 1.09 percent and 0.80 percent, respectively, the NNC record as of March 2026 showed.

A similar pattern emerged in child stunting for 2025 with Masbate again leading the region with a 15.09 percent prevalence, followed by Catanduanes at 13.57 percent, and Camarines Sur at 11.01 percent.

Completing the provincial stunting list are Camarines Norte at 9.01 percent, Sorsogon at 7.31 percent, and Albay at 5.86 percent.

The list showed that among Bicol’s component cities, Masbate City ranked highest in both categories. For child wasting, it is followed by Iriga, Sorsogon, Ligao, Legazpi, and Tabaco while for child stunting, Masbate City is followed by Ligao and Iriga in second and third places respectively, with Sorsogon, Tabaco, and Legazpi trailing behind.

These figures followed a trend from 2024, when Camarines Sur and Masbate both ranked among the top ten provinces nationwide for stunting, with Camarines Sur holding the highest regional spot that year, the NNC also reported.

The two provinces also featured prominently in the national top ten for the total number of underweight-for-age children, where Camarines Sur recorded a magnitude of 11,257 children and Masbate logged 7,058.

Meanwhile in Sorsogon province, the top five municipalities with highest number of underweight children for the first semester of 2026 were Irosin, Magallanes, Santa Magdalena, Prieto-Diaz and Bulusan as reported by the Provincial Nutrition Office (PNO).

For stunted children the list also topped by Irosin town, followed by Prieto-Diaz, Donsol, Magallanes and Santa Magdalena while the “wasting” list had Santa Magdalena, Matnog, Pilar, Bulan and Magallanes, the PNO record showed.