India ranks 94 out of 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2020 released on October 16, 2002 and is in the ‘serious’ hunger category. Previous year, India’s rank was 102 out of 117 countries.
- The index is a peer-reviewed report released annually by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
- India has been ranked lower than neighbours such as Bangladesh (75) and Pakistan (88).
- The 2020 scores reflect data from 2015-19. India’s score is 27.2
- India has the highest prevalence of wasted children under five years in the world, which reflects acute undernutrition.
- The situation has worsened in the 2015-19 period, when the prevalence of child wasting was 17.3%, in comparison to 2010-14, when it was 15.1%.
- According to the report, globally, nearly 690 million people are undernourished.
Four Parameters
- India fares worst in child wasting (low weight for height, reflecting acute undernutrition) and child stunting (low height for age, reflecting chronic undernutrition), which together make up a third of the total score.
- However, child stunting has actually improved significantly, from 54% in 2000 to less than 35% now.
- Child wasting, on the other hand, has not improved in the last two decades, and is rather worse than it was decade ago.
- India has improved in both child mortality rates, which are now at 3.7%, and in terms of undernourishment, with about 14% of the total population which gets an insufficient caloric intake.
About Global Hunger Index (GHI)
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators:
- Undernourishment (share of the population with insufficient caloric intake),
- Child wasting (share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition),
- Child stunting (share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition),
- Child mortality (mortality rate of children under age five, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).
- Based on the values of the four indicators, the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.
(Source: PIB)
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