Comparing Methodologies Used to Develop WHO and CDC Growth Charts for Children Birth to Aged 2 Years

The WHO growth charts represent growth standards that describe how healthy infants and young children should grow under optimal environmental and health conditions.
The WHO growth charts  

• Are prescriptive because they describe growth under optimal environmental conditions and included healthy infants who were well-fed according to international recommendations.
• Were designed to be an international standard for infants and young children.
• Provide a standard against which all infants should be compared.
• Create an opportunity for clinicians to identify and address environmental conditions that might be negatively affecting growth.

The CDC growth charts are a growth reference. They describe the growth of children in the United States.

The CDC growth charts

• Are descriptive because they indicate how children grew in a particular place and time.
• Indicate how children grew in the United States during approximately 30 years (1963 -1994).
• Do not imply that the pattern of growth they represent is healthy.