India ranked 94th among the 107 countries with respect to hunger and malnutrition. It continues to fall under the ‘serious’ hunger category, according to the Global Hunger Index 2020.
The report released on Friday, October 16, stated that with a score of 27.2, India had serious levels of hunger and featured behind countries like Nepal (73), Pakistan (88), Bangladesh (75), Indonesia (70) among others.
The Global Hunger Index 2020 is now live! To find out about the state of #hunger worldwide, read the report here: https://t.co/pjv7Wk4xTp#GHI2020 #ZeroHunger @Alliance_2015 @Welthungerhilfe @Concern pic.twitter.com/yvWJ1uH2uc
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Out of the total 107 countries, only 13 countries fare worse than India including countries like Rwanda (97), Nigeria (98), Afghanistan (99), Liberia (102), Mozambique (103), Chad (107) among others.
The report highlighted that 14% of India’s population is undernourished.
It also stated that the country recorded a child stunting rate of 37.4%. Stunted children have ‘low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition’. The country also registered a higher number of child mortality due to prematurity and low birth weight.
It was also the worst performer in child wasting rates. Wasting in children is the condition in which they have ‘low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition’. India’s child wasting rate for 2020 stands at 17.3%.
The Global Hunger Index uses four parameters to ascertain the scores. Undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five). India fared worst in child wasting and child stunting which together made up a third of the total score.
‘Data from 1991 through 2014 for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan showed that stunting is concentrated among children from households facing multiple forms of deprivation, including poor dietary diversity, low levels of maternal education, and household poverty,’ the GHI report stated.
‘In many countries the situation is improving too slowly, while in others it is worsening. For 46 countries in the moderate, serious, or alarming categories, GHI scores have improved since 2012, but for 14 countries in those categories, GHI scores show that hunger and undernutrition have worsened. The latest GHI projections show that 37 countries will fail to achieve even low hunger by 2030,’ the report said.
In 2018, India ranked 103 among 119 countries on the global hunger index.
Also Read: 10,000 Children May Die Per Month From Malnutrition Caused Due To COVID-19: WHO Head
