The purpose of the present study was to investigate the socio-cultural factors contributing to protein -energy malnutrition.A cross-sectional nutritional survey was carried out on children aged 0-24 months attending health centre in Kızılay-Bornova from February to April 1997. 250 children at 2 years of age and below registered with Kızılay primary health care centre, 208 were in the study. The questionnaire regarding risk factors was prepared and mothers interviewed at the Kızılay primary health care centre. Z -scores, centile and relative scale were calculated The prevalence of stunting. wasting and underweight were % 4.3, %3.4 and %1.0 respectively. According to relative scale, 14% of children were severely malnourished, 2.9% of them moderate, 13.5% of them mild, 61.5% of them normal, 12.5_o of them overweight. 8.2% of them obese. There was significant relationship between z score of children and order of child, duration of breast-feeding and birth-weight according to the result of the ANOVA.