The misrepresentation of statistical data can profoundly distort its intended meaning and public perception. On March 31, 2026, during an audio recording titled “Dix ans sans bilan, partie 4,” disseminated by the online media outlet Be Africa, exiled Beninese opposition leader Martin Rodriguez put forth a significant claim. He asserted that in Benin, “more than 45% of children under 5 years old die from malnutrition.”
To bolster his assertion, Rodriguez claimed this statistic originated from the United Nations. He urged listeners: “I read a United Nations report, two reports. There’s one on child mortality. It’s on the internet, everyone listening, type it into your phone, go to Google,” before presenting his specific child mortality rate linked to malnutrition.
Context of the assertion
The Be Africa broadcast, featuring “Dix ans sans bilan, partie 4,” aired amidst a bustling electoral campaign in the lead-up to Benin’s presidential election on April 12, 2026. Within the discussions shared via Be Africa’s platforms, Martin Rodriguez, a businessman and vocal Beninese opposition figure residing in exile, delivered a scathing critique of Patrice Talon’s administration over the preceding decade in Benin. He initially declared, “We have experienced an increase in poverty; poverty has grown,” before introducing his statistic on child mortality.
These allegations were extracted from an extensive debate published two days prior on Be Africa’s YouTube channel, before their appearance on Facebook.
Despite the explicit reference to the United Nations, the claim that “more than 45% of children under 5 years old die from malnutrition” in Benin is demonstrably inaccurate.
Online research findings
Following Martin Rodriguez’s recommendation, an initial online search was conducted using keywords such as “malnutrition, mortality, children, 5 years, Benin” on Google. A subsequent search specifically targeted his exact statement: “more than 45% of children under 5 years old die from malnutrition.”
Both Google searches led to an advocacy brief published on UNICEF-Benin’s website, titled “Malnutrition: A Risk Factor for Mortality and Morbidity in Children.”
The statistics presented in this publication, dated April 30, 2020, significantly differed from the figures put forward by the Beninese opposition figure. It clearly stated that “Malnutrition constitutes the greatest risk factor for mortality and morbidity among young children in Benin” and that “it accounts for 45 percent of all child deaths annually among children under 5 years old.”
This UNICEF statistic was also referenced in an article by the specialized website Allo Docteurs, published on November 18, 2024, and updated on June 25, 2025. This media outlet reported that “chronic malnutrition is responsible each year for 45% of deaths of children under 5.”
UNICEF Benin refutes Rodriguez’s claim and clarifies
As part of the verification process, UNICEF’s Beninese representation was contacted. In an email received on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, UNICEF Benin explicitly rejected the data attributed to it.
Regarding the assertion that “More than 45% of children under 5 years old die from malnutrition” in Benin, Dorothée Thiénot, UNICEF-Benin’s communication chief, unequivocally stated, “Phrased this way, this sentence is false and does not correspond to how United Nations agencies, including UNICEF, present data.”
Beyond the fact that the claim does not align with the reality of United Nations statistics for Benin, Dorothée Thiénot highlighted a “crucial nuance”: “we are talking about the proportion of deaths of children under 5 where malnutrition is an underlying or aggravating factor, and not the proportion of all children who die from malnutrition.”
Thiénot was also asked about the 2020 UNICEF Benin advocacy brief, which indicated that “malnutrition constitutes the greatest risk factor for mortality and morbidity among young children in Benin” and that “it accounts for 45 percent of all child deaths annually among children under 5.”
In response, Thiénot explained, “This wording was based on the estimations available at the time, largely consistent with international analyses that attribute approximately 45% of deaths of children under 5 worldwide to undernutrition.”
In any case, the UNICEF Benin communication chief emphasized the need for clarification, stating, “it is not to say that ‘45% of children die’” due to malnutrition before the age of 5 in Benin. “This is an erroneous interpretation,” Dorothée Thiénot firmly asserted.
Concerning the current reality of child mortality in Benin, Thiénot conveyed that “available data is not presented as a ‘mortality rate specific to malnutrition’ for Benin, but rather as: an under-5 mortality rate (number of deaths per 1,000 live births).”