Global Hunger Index, 2022

On October 15^th 2022, Global Hunger Index was published by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels, reflecting multiple dimensions of hunger over time.

Methodology: The GHI is an annual report and each set of GHI scores uses data from a 5-year period.

Indicators used in Global Hunger Index

Undernourishment: the share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient.
Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.
Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (probability of dying by age 5 per 1000 live births).

Key Findings: With a global score of 18.2 in 2022 as compared to 19.1 in 2014, there is only a slight improvement.

Some 828 million people were suffering from undernourishment around the world in 2021.
The GHI, 2022 score is still considered “moderate”.
As per the index, there are 44 countries that currently have “serious” or “alarming” hunger levels and without a major shift.
The highest levels of hunger were in Africa South of the Sahara and South Asia.
Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Chile, China and Croatia are the top five countries in GHI 2022.
Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Central African Republic and Yemen are the countries ranked at the bottom of the index.
In this 2022 index (GHI), India ranks 107^th (with a score of 29.1) out of the 121 countries, which places it under ‘serious’ category.
- India ranked 101 out of 116 countries in GHI 2021 whereas it was positioned 94^th in 2020.
- This decline in the indicators of Child Stunting and Mortality is mainly due to improvements in the coverage of health and nutrition interventions, household conditions, and maternal factors.
- India, however, noted improvement in two parameters of child stunting from 38.7 per cent in 2012-16 to 35.5 per cent in 2017-21 and child mortality from 4.6 per cent in 2014 to 3.3 per cent in 2020.
In Asia, Afghanistan with a rank of 109 is the only country behind India. Neighbouring countries - Pakistan (99^th), Bangladesh (84^th), Nepal (81^st) and Sri Lanka (64^th) have all fared better than India.