The global hunger index 2022 was released recently out of 121 countries in this list India’s ranking is at 107. It was jointly published by concerned worldwide and went hunger hilfer non government organizations from Ireland and Germany respectively.
What is the global hunger index?
The global hunger index or GHI has been released almost every year since 2000. It is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global regional and national levels. The GHI is intended to raise awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger; it provides a way to compare levels of hunger between countries and regions and even call attention to those areas of the world where hunger levels are highest and where the need for additional efforts to eliminate hunger is greatest. The reason for mapping hunger is to ensure that the world achieves 0 hunger by 2030 which is one of the sustainable development goals laid out by the United nations
How is the GHI calculated?
Each country’s GHI score is calculated based on 4 indicators
1.Undernourishment – calculated by the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake. 2.Child stunting – calculated by the share of children underage five who have low height for their age reflecting chronic undernutrition.
3.Child mortality – calculated by the share of children who die before their 5th birthday partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.
4.Child wasting – calculated by the share of children under age 5 who have low weight for their height reflecting acute undernutrition.
The GHI score is calculated on a 100 point scale reflecting the severity of hunger where zero is the best score on hunger and 100 is the worst. India’s score of 29.1 places it in the serious category, India also ranks below Sri Lanka at 64 Nepal at 81 Bangladesh at 84 and Pakistan at 99 Afghanistan at 109 is the only country in South Asia that performs worse than India. On the index China is among the countries collectively ranked between one and 17 having a score of less than five. India’s rank in the global hunger index has consistently worsened in the last 10 years.
Govt is taking a series of measures to ensure food security
The Ministry criticized the Global Hunger Report 2022 for not matching with the ground reality and ignoring the efforts made by the Indian government to ensure food security for its population, especially during the Covid Pandemic.
Further, the Ministry pointed out that India’s per capita dietary energy supply has been increasing year-on-year, given the increasing production of major agricultural commodities in the country over the years. So, it argued that “there is absolutely no reason why the country’s undernourishment levels should increase.”
