WHO vs CDC Growth Charts: Which Should You Use for Your Child?

If you've ever looked at growth charts online, you've probably seen two different standards: WHO (World Health Organization) and CDC (Centers for Disease Control). They look similar, but they tell different stories — and for young children, using the wrong one can lead to misinterpretation.

The Core Difference

Why WHO is the Global Standard for Under 2

Feature	WHO (2006 / 2007)	CDC (2000)
Type	Prescriptive standard	Reference data
Question asked	"How should children grow?"	"How did US children grow?"
Study design	Optimal conditions (breastfed, non-smoking, etc.)	Mixed US population
Age range	0–5 years (2006) + 5–19 (2007)	0–20 years
Recommended for <2 years	✅ Yes	❌ No

The WHO charts were built from the MGRS (Multicentre Growth Reference Study) — a landmark study across 6 countries (Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman, USA) that tracked healthy children raised under optimal conditions: exclusively breastfed for 6 months, non-smoking households, no significant socioeconomic barriers to growth.

This is prescriptive — it shows how children should grow when given optimal conditions, making it the correct yardstick regardless of population. The CDC charts, by contrast, are descriptive — they show how American children actually grew in the 1990s, including formula-fed and overweight children, which inflates expected weights in early infancy.

Official guidance: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and WHO both recommend using WHO charts for children under 2 years, and CDC charts for children aged 2–20 years in the US. For international use, WHO charts are recommended for all ages.

Practical Impact: Real Example

A breastfed infant who appears to drop from the 25th to the 10th percentile on the CDC chart (causing concern) may actually be tracking perfectly on the WHO chart. This is because formula-fed infants gain weight faster in early infancy, inflating the CDC reference curves — making breastfed babies look like they're lagging when they're not.

Use WHO if:

Your child is under 2 years
You are outside the US
Your child is breastfed
You want a global standard

Use CDC if:

Your child is 2–20 years (US)
Your US paediatrician uses it
Comparing to US population data

What GrowChart Uses

GrowChart uses the WHO Child Growth Standards for all ages (0–19 years), which is the internationally recommended standard used by paediatricians, WHO-affiliated clinics, and UNICEF worldwide. Our LMS-based z-score engine matches the official WHO software output exactly.

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