The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a tool utilized by international humanitarian organizations to measure and track hunger levels across 127 countries based on indicators such as undernourishment and child mortality, has ranked India 105th, categorizing it under the “serious” category.
The 2024 report, now in its 19th edition, was published this week by the Irish humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide and the German aid agency Welthungerhilfe. It emphasizes that hunger levels will remain high in many of the world’s poorest countries for several decades without significant advancements in efforts to address the issue.
India is one of 42 countries identified in the “serious” category, alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan. In contrast, neighboring South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have achieved better GHI scores and are classified under the “moderate” category.
With a GHI score of 27.3, India’s hunger level is considered serious, according to the index. This score is derived from four key indicators: 13.7% of the population is undernourished, 35.5% of children under five are stunted, 18.7% are wasted, and 2.9% of children die before their fifth birthday.
In this context, undernourishment refers to the proportion of the population lacking sufficient caloric intake; stunting indicates the percentage of children under five who are shorter than the average for their age due to chronic undernutrition; wasting refers to children under five who have low weight for their height due to acute undernutrition; and mortality captures the fatalities resulting from inadequate nutrition and unhealthy living conditions.
The GHI score for each country is calculated on a 100-point scale, with 0 representing no hunger and 100 indicating the worst possible scenario.
The report concludes that achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 appears increasingly unlikely. Despite the international community’s repeated emphasis on the right to adequate food, a significant gap remains between established standards and the reality, with many regions blatantly disregarding this fundamental right.
Globally, approximately 733 million people face hunger daily due to insufficient access to food, while around 2.8 billion individuals cannot afford a healthy diet.
Some African nations are among the most severely impacted, categorized as “alarming,” with ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Sudan exacerbating exceptional food crises. The report also highlights that conflict and civil unrest are contributing to food crises in regions such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali, and Syria.