Global, regional, and national trends in haemoglobin concentration and prevalence of total and severe anaemia in children and pregnant and non-pregnant women for 1995–2011: a systematic analysis of population-representative data

The authors obtained data about hemoglobin and anemia for children and women of childbearing age from the population-representative data sources of 107 countries. They found that children's and women's hemoglobin statuses improved in some regions where concentrations had been low in the 1990s, leading to a modest global increase in mean hemoglobin and a reduction in anemia prevalence, from 33% to 29% and 43% to 38% in non-pregnant and pregnant women (respectively), and from 47% to 43% in children. This translates to around 801 million women and children with anemia in 2011.