India Ranks 111 in Global Hunger Index

India has been ranked 111 among 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index report. India slipped four positions as compared to last year's rank of 107.

Global Hunger Index

• The Global Hunger Index is a peer-reviewed annual report published since 2006.
• The Global Hunger Index is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels. 
• It is jointly published by two NGOs, Concern Worldwide from Ireland and Welthungerhilfe from Germany,
• The goal of the GHI is to spur action towards reducing global hunger.

How is the Global Hunger Index Calculated?

Four indicators are combined to calculate each country's GHI score, capturing hunger's multidimensional nature.

1. Undernourishment: The phrase refers to the percentage of the population whose daily calorie consumption is inadequate.
2. Child stunting: Low height for age in children under five reflects chronic undernutrition.
3. Child wasting: The percentage of children under five with acute undernutrition, reflected by low weight-for-height.
4. Child mortality: The number of children who die before their fifth birthday is high due to poor nutrition and unhealthy environments.

India's Performance

• India stands in a group of 40 countries where the scale of global hunger has been termed as 'serious'. 
• According to the current report, India's overall GHI score is 28.7. 
• The calculation of this score is done on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the worse the performance of the country.
• According to the report, India has the highest child 'wasting' (low weight for height) rate worldwide, at 18.7%, reflecting acute undernutrition. In fact, 'wasting' is considered the worst indicator of all forms of child undernutrition.
• If a country has more than 15% of the children 'wasted', it has been marked as a 'very high' level of concern in the report. India is the only country, thus, where the wasting has been put in the category of 'very high'.

Countries Below India's Rank

• The countries ranking lower than India are Timor-Leste, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Haiti, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad, Niger, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Madagascar, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Burundi and Somalia.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, also known as the SOFI report, was prepared by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Children's Fund and International Fund (UNICEF) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).