India Drops To 107th Position In Global Hunger Index, Improves In Two Other Indicators

Since the 'alarming' levels of hunger in the country recorded in 2000, India has worked towards lowering its hunger levels. However, recent reports show a break in consistency as India has fallen by six positions and ranked 107th among the 136 countries classified by the Global Hunger Index (GHI).

Despite the considerable improvement in two other indicators, the country is now ranked behind its neighbours Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

An Increasing Case Of Severity

The GHI, which is jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, measures and tracks the severity of a country's hunger levels at a global level.

They rank the countries on their severity levels based on four indicators - undernourishment, child wasting (the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, indicating acute undernutrition), child stunting (children under the age of five who have low height for their age, indicating chronic undernutrition), and child mortality rate of children under the age of five.

According to an article by Indian Express, a score less than 9.9 is considered 'low', 10-19.9 is 'moderate', 20-34.9 is 'serious', 35-49.9 is 'alarming', and above 50 is considered 'extremely alarming'.

India currently has a score of 29.1, which categorises it under a 'serious' case of hunger level. The country had seen a decreasing trend in the GHI scores since 2000, when it had first recorded an 'alarming' score of 38.8. It had gradually toned down to 28.2 in 2014 but has gone back up to 29.1. The hunger level has now slipped to the 107th position from the 101st position it was in 2021. They now hold a rank behind their neighbours Nepal (81), Pakistan (99), Sri Lanka (64), and Bangladesh (84).

Among the Asian countries with a low level of hunger are China and Kuwait, with a score of less than five in 2022. Meanwhile, the rest of the list is dominated by European nations such as Croatia, Estonia, and Montenegro in terms of a healthy development structure. Arab countries of Yemen and Somalia are among the lowest ranking in the list, with alarming scores of hunger levels.

Improvement Noted In Stunting And Mortality Rates

The low ranking in the report was attributed to India's child-wasting rate, which is the highest in the world at 19.3 per cent. It was a huge leap compared to the 15.1 child-wasting rates recorded in 2014. Undernourishment ratios have also risen from 14.8 in 2014 to 16.3 in the year 2022. Owing to the country's large population, these rates have driven up the region's average score.

However, the country has witnessed considerable improvement in the two indicators of stunting and mortality among children under five. Stunting has reduced from 38.7 in 2014 to 35.5 in 2022, and mortality rates dropped from 4.6 in 2014 to 3.3 in 2022.

The stunting disparity was particularly pronounced in the country, and the research study looked into the decline in stunting in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu between 2006 and 2016.

It stated, "The example of India shows the importance of considering the subnational context when designing programs and policies to target child stunting". The decline was reportedly due to improvements seen in the coverage of health and nutrition interventions, household conditions, and maternal factors such as mothers' health and education.

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