Global Hunger Index 2019: India Behind Bangla, Nepal and Pak

Do you know? The country of 1.37 billion population is currently facing acute hunger crisis.

Bitter but true, this is now the case of India, as per the Global Hunger Index 2019 that termed India’s hunger situation as ‘severe’.

“In the 2019 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 102^nd out of 117 qualifying countries. With a score of 30.3, India suffers from a level of hunger that is serious,” the GHI 2019 report said.

The survey indexed 117 countries in the range of ‘less than or equal to 9.9 as low’, ‘10.0-19.9 as moderate’, ‘20.0-34.9 as serious’, ‘35.0-49.9 as alarming’ and ‘greater than or equal to 50.0 as extremely alarming’.

Surprisingly, with a score of 30.0, India stood in the ‘serious’ range!

With this score, India stands behind its closest neighbors Nepal (73), Pakistan (94) and Bangladesh (88) in terms of hunger and malnutrition.

Looking at the trends, India has witnessed a decline in its ranking from 55 in 2014 to 102 in 2019. In 2014, the country ranked 55 out of 76 countries surveyed, that was 100 out of 119 nations in 2017, 103 out of 199 nations in 2018, and now 102 out of 117 nations.

“Because of its large population, India’s Global Hunger Index indicator values have an outsized impact on the indicator values for the region… India’s child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 per cent – the highest wasting rate of any country in this report for which data or estimates were available,” reads a statement in GHI report.