Nearly 40% of children under five are stunted.
Source
World Bank — https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2025/10/17/fragile-gains-enduring-challenges-charting-pakistan-s-path-out-of-poverty. Verified in source set / retroactive normalization pending.
What it proves
Human-capital loss begins before school through malnutrition.
What it does not prove: Stunting is height-for-age, a cumulative record of the first 1,000 days, so today's 40% registers deprivation already inflicted and will not move in response to this year's feeding programmes. It is also distinct from acute hunger — a child can be stunted without being wasted — so the figure evidences chronic deprivation, not a present famine.
Memory hook: 40% → two in five children already set back before school begins
Rebuts the claim: "Pakistan's learning crisis originates in the school system — bad teachers, bad curricula, bad exams."