Background: Nutrition transition in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has led to childhood nutritional outcomes to shift from a predominance of undernutrition to a dual burden of under- and overnutrition. Yet, Infant and young child feeding programs in Ethiopia mainly focus on undernutrition. It is therefore crucial to assess the prevalence and determinants to better inform infant young child feeding programs.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS 2016). An analytical sample 2674 infant and young children were included. Concurrent of Stunting and Overweight/Obesity (CSO) prevalence was estimated by various sociodemographic factors. To identify factors associated with CSO, we conducted hierarchical logistic regression analyses.

Results: The overall prevalence of CSO was 2.45%. The odds of CSO was significantly higher in children of low household wealth category, compared to their counter parts in the richest category (AOR=2.07, 95%CI=1.06–4.03, P=0.033). In boys, the likelihood of CSO was 1.60 times that of girls (95%CI =1.03–2.49, P =0.038). Above 12months of age was significantly associated with a higher odd of CSO, compared to below 12months of age (AOR=1.76, 95% CI=1.07– 2.88, P=0.026).

Small birth size was significantly associated with a higher odd of CSO, compared to large birth size (AOR=2.53, 95%CI=1.45–4.41, P=0.001). Children who did not take vitamin A supplement within the previous six months had a higher odd of CSO, compared to those who took (AOR=1.91, 95%CI =1.19–3.07, P =0.007).

Conclusion: Our study provided evidence on the co-existence of stunting and overweight/obesity clustering among infants and young children in Ethiopia. CSO was associated with various factors originating from community and child levels. Therefore, targeting children less than two years of age in both stunting and overweight interventions might stand an important consideration to improve childhood nutrition in Ethiopia and beyond.