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Current Affairs 2023

Global Hunger Index 2022 - UPSC Current Affairs

India has ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022.The GHI is an annual report that measures and tracks hunger at global, regional, and national levels. India's score of 29.1 is considered to be in the "serious" category, and child wasting rate is the highest in the world. India has shown improvement in child stunting and child mortality. Without a major shift, neither the world as a whole nor approximately 46 countries are projected to achieve even low hunger as measured by the GHI by 2030.

Jan 13, 2023

2 min read

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is an annual report that comprehensively measures and tracks hunger at global, regional, and national levels. The GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators: undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality. The GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale, with zero being the best score (implies no hunger) and 100 being the worst. The GHI is prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.

As per the latest GHI report, India has performed worse than all the countries in the South Asian region, ranking 107 out of 121 countries. India's score of 29.1 is considered to be in the "serious" category. The country's child wasting rate (low weight for height) at 19.3%, is the highest for any country in the world. The prevalence of undernourishment has also risen in the country from 14.6% in 2018-2020 to 16.3% in 2019-2021, implying that 224.3 million people in India are considered undernourished.

India has shown improvement in child stunting and child mortality. Child stunting (low height for age) has declined from 38.7% to 35.5% between 2014 and 2022. Child mortality (mortality rate under the age of five) has dropped from 4.6% to 3.3% in the same comparative period.

Globally, the progress against hunger has largely stagnated in recent years. The 2022 GHI score is still considered "moderate", however, there are 44 countries that currently have "serious" or "alarming" hunger levels. Without a major shift, neither the world as a whole nor approximately 46 countries are projected to achieve even low hunger as measured by the GHI by 2030.

Similar indices/reports to the GHI include the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, presented by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization. The Global Nutrition Report, 2021 and National Family Health Survey (NFHS) are other examples of reports that focus on the same subject.