Global Hunger Index

What is Global Hunger Index?

The report is a peer-reviewed publication released annually by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.

The GHI scores are based on a formula that captures three dimensions of hunger—insufficient caloric intake, child undernutrition, and child mortality—using four component indicators:

1. UNDERNOURISHMENT: the share of the population that is under-nourished, reflecting insufficient caloric intake
2. CHILD WASTING: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (low weight-for-height), reflecting acute undernutrition.
3. CHILD STUNTING: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (low height-for-age), reflecting chronic undernutrition.
4. CHILD MORTALITY: the mortality rate of children under the age of five.

India and it’s neighbours:

1. India ranked 102 on the index among 117 qualifying countries with a score of 30.3. Even North Korea, Niger, Cameroon fared better than India.
2. Neighboring countries too bagged better spots — Sri Lanka (66), Nepal (73), Pakistan (94) and Bangladesh (88).
3. India bagged the top spot in child wasting rate in the world with an increase of 4.3 percentage points in nine years.
4. Around 90 per cent of children aged between 6 and 23 months in the country don’t even get minimum required food.
5. When it comes to stunting in children under five, the country saw a dip, but it’s still high — 37.9 per cent in 2019 from 42 per cent in 2010.
6. Despite the Swachh Bharat campaign, open defecation is still practiced in India. It jeopardises the population’s health and severely impacts children’s growth and their ability to absorb nutrients.

Concerns for India:

1. These findings point at a serious food crisis since wasting is “a strong predictor of mortality among children under five and is usually the result of acute significant food shortage and/or disease.
2. India’s hunger indicators have a huge impact on the total indicators of the region owing to its large population.
3. The data shows that India’s poor scores were pulling down South Asia to a point where it does worse than even sub-Saharan Africa.