From the 101st position in 2021, India has fallen to the 107th position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) in 2022. Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe jointly publish the Global Hunger Index, which measures and tracks hunger at the global, regional, and country level. Based on the GHI, India ranks behind its neighbours Nepal (81), Pakistan (99), Sri Lanka (64), and Bangladesh (84).
In the Global Hunger Index, which ranks countries according to the severity of hunger, India ranks 29.1, which is considered a ‘serious’ level of hunger.
According to the rankings, Yemen is ranked 121st out of 17 collective top-ranking nations, with only a small difference between their severity scores. A few Asian countries, including China and Kuwait, are ranked at the top of the list, which is dominated by European nations, including Croatia, Estonia, and Montenegro.
There are four indicators used to calculate the GHI score – child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who are underweight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition); stunting (children under the age of five who are short for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and mortality (the mortality rate for children under the age of five).
Scores below 9.9 are considered low, scores between 10 and 19.9 are considered moderate, scores between 20 and 34.9 are considered serious, scores between 35 and 49.9 are considered alarming, and scores above 50 are considered extremely alarming.
Over the past few years, India has recorded decreasing GHI scores. As of 2014, it recorded a score of 28.2, down from 38.8 in 2000. Since then, the country has been recording higher scores.
Despite consistently low values for the four indicators, India started recording higher levels in 2014 for undernourishment and child wasting. Undernourishment as a % of the population grew from 14.8 in 2014 to 16.3 in 2022, while wasting as a % of the population grew from 15.1 in 2014 to 19.3 in 2022.
