India has been ranked 102nd among 117 countries in the 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released on October 15, 2019. India’s rank slipped from 2015, when it was ranked 93. India’s score was 30.3, putting it in the serious hunger category.
The report was released by two international non-profits-Ireland’s Concern Worldwide and Germany’s Welthungerhilfe.
India is ranked lowest among its neighbours. Sri Lanka (66), Myanmar (69), Nepal (73), Bangladesh (88) and Pakistan (94) fared better on the annual index.
GHI calculates the levels of hunger using four indicators – undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.
Among BRICS countries, Brazil stood at 18, Russia at 22, China at 25 and South Africa at 60.
India’s low ranking is due to the worst performance child wasting (age appropriate weight), clocking a dismal 20.8 percent. Among infants aged 6-23 months, merely 9.6 percent received the ‘minimum acceptable diet’. The child stunting rate at 37.9 percent, was also termed ‘very high.
The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst.
