The prevalence of underweight children at national level is about 45 percent in both boys and girls, shows a demographic survey.

It finds that the prevalence of stunting is 40 percent in both boys and girls, and that it is five percent higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

Three professors of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, Dhaka University --M Akhtaruzzaman, Md Nazrul Islam Khan, and Dr Sheikh Nazrul Islam--conducted the survey.

The professors disclosed the preliminary report at a press conference at their office yesterday and said a more comprehensive and detailed report is due this year.

The researchers surveyed 6,274 households, among a population of 31,066, in both urban and rural areas, between March 2010 and March 2011.

They have found that food shortage is ever-prevalent among 11.2 percent of the households, while 14.4 percent of them face it occasionally.

The study, "The Nutrition, Health, Demographic Survey of Bangladesh-2011", was funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

It says about 59.2 percent of all households in Bangladesh have access to electricity, and the second most lighting arrangement is kerosene lamp (43.7 percent in rural areas and 36.4 percent nationally).

Almost all households in rural areas use solid fuels, it adds.

The research also finds that only 49 percent of the women surveyed know that condom use can reduce the chance of getting infected by HIV, and 89.4 percent of them have never heard of syphilis.