According to the reports released by Global Hunger Index 2020, with a score of 27.2, India has a level of hunger that is “serious”. India ranks 94 among 107 countries, featuring behind Pakistan (88), Bangladesh (75), Nepal (73), Indonesia (70) among others.
Only 13 countries are fare worse than India out of the total 107 countries including countries like Rwanda (97), Nigeria (98), Afghanistan (99), Liberia (102), Mozambique (103), Chad (107) and others.
The Global Hunger Index is an annual report which is jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. It is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.
According to their report, 14 per cent of India’s population is undernourished and the country recorded a child stunting rate of 37.4 per cent. Children with “low height for their age, reflecting chronic under nutrition” fall under the category of stunted children.
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The GHI report states, “the record of child stunting is mostly seen among children from households which face multiple forms of deprivation, including poor dietary diversity, low levels of maternal education, and household poverty according to the data from 1991 through 2014 for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.”
The GHI scores are calculated on the basis of four indicators each year to evaluate progress and setbacks in combating hunger. Child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five), undernourishment (the proportion of undernourished people with insufficient calorie intake), child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who are wasted, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under nutrition) and child stunting (children with low height for their age, reflecting chronic under nutrition).
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According to the latest GHI reports, 37 countries will fail to achieve even low hunger by 2030 and the rate of hunger and under nutrition will worsen. The GHI scores fall in moderate, serious, or alarming categories for 46 countries out of the lot which shows in many countries the situation is improving too slowly, while for 14 countries the situation is worsening.
India ranked 103 among 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index in the year 2018.