In today’s Nigeria, widespread and severe poverty is a reality that manifests itself in a lack of food, clothing, education, and other basic necessities, affecting primarily women and children. The nutritional status of primary school pupils in selected rural and urban areas in Ondo State, South-West Nigeria, was examined and contrasted in this study. Two hundred and forty (240) elementary school pupils between the ages of 5 and 10 years were ethically recruited from the aforementioned area using the Multi-staged sample technique. Interviews were conducted to gather socio-demographic information, which was supplemented by a research-administered questionnaire that included both open-ended and closed-ended items. Secondary data was gathered through the Ministry of Health, the internet, published research papers, journals, and other sources. The nutritional status of children in the research area(s) was assessed using a variety of nutrition indicators such as height-for-age, weight-for-height, and weight-for-age. Anthropometric approaches, as well as gender-specific changes in target variables, were used to measure these markers. For quantitative data integration on socio-economic and demographics, the results were sorted, evaluated, and displayed in percentage (using the statistical software for social sciences, SPSS). According to the findings, the majority (60.0 percent) of respondents’ parents in the urban are between the ages of 31 and 40, whereas the majority (44.0 percent) of respondents’ parents in the rural are between the ages of 21 and 30. Overall, none of the urban parents were between the ages of 15-20, but 10.0 percent of the rural parents were between the ages of 15-21. Parents in urban areas were 34 years old on average, whereas parents in rural areas were 31 years old on average. The findings indicate that rural parents were more involved than their urban counterparts. Even though nutritional status differed between urban and rural children, the average intake pattern of carbs by urban respondents was higher than that of rural respondents, and the average consumption pattern of proteins and vitamins was lower. Parents of rural settled children should attend nutritional enlightenment programmes to stay informed about the importance of good food. It is also necessary to do additional research in order to confirm these findings.
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SCIENCEDOMAIN international 