A Downward Slide! India's Ranks Slips By 7 Spots To 101 On Global Hunger Index

India's rank has slipped seven spots on the Global Hunger Index from 94 in 2020 to 101 this year. The index released on Thursday, October 14, places India among the 31 countries out of 116 countries where hunger has been identified as serious.

A glimpse of how dire the situation reflects on the data. Only 15 countries fare worse than India and they are Papua New Guinea (102), Afghanistan (103), Nigeria (103), Congo (105), Mozambique (106), Sierra Leone (106), Timor-Leste (108), Haiti (109), Liberia (110), Madagascar (111), Democratic Republic of Congo (112), Chad (113), Central African Republic (114), Yemen (115) and Somalia (116).

Pakistan, Bangladesh Fare Better Than India

In fact, India is even behind most of the neighbouring countries, reported The Hindu. While Pakistan ranks 92 on the index, Nepal and Bangladesh stand at 76. The index keeps a track of key indicators used to measure progress toward Zero Hunger by 2030 at national, regional, and global levels. Based on the values of the four indicators— undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality— the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.

Somalia has the highest level of hunger according to the GHI ranking (50.8), which is considered extremely alarming. Somalia is preceded by five countries with levels of hunger that are alarming — Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Yemen — and 31 countries that have serious levels of hunger.

Other Key Findings Of The Study

Although GHI scores show that global hunger has been declining since 2000, coinciding with a decline in extreme poverty in that period, progress is slowing, mentioned Global Hunger Index on its website. While the GHI score for the world fell 4.7 points, from 25.1 to 20.4, between 2006 and 2012, it has fallen just 2.5 points since 2012.

The index states that the regions where hunger levels are the highest are Africa South of the Sahara and South Asia. It also states that climate change is exacerbating food insecurity through higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events.

It also stated that the ongoing COVID pandemic is worsening food insecurity. It added that in South Asia hunger is driven largely by child undernutrition, particularly as measured by child wasting.

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