NEW DELHI: India ranked 94th out of 107 countries in the World hunger index (GHI) 2020 and is still in the “serious” hunger category, although it has made some progress, particularly since the enactment of National Law on Food Safety.
Last year, India’s ranking was 102 out of 117 countries.
The neighboring countries of Bangladesh, Myanmar Y Pakistan They were also in the “serious” category, but ranked higher than India in this year’s index, as has been the trend for several years. While Bangladesh ranked 75th, Myanmar and Pakistan ranked 78th and 88th respectively. According to the report, Nepal and Sri Lanka were in positions 73 and 64 and were in the category of “moderate” hunger, according to the report.
The data shows that India’s score has steadily declined, a positive sign in this ranking, from 32.2 in 2010 to 31.1 in 2018 and last year the score was 30.3. In the 2020 report, India’s score stood at 27.2. Following this rate of progress, it is likely that India will take a few more years to be in the “moderate” category. Countries that have scores between 10 and 19.9 are classified as moderate.
The GHI is calculated using a three-step process and the indicators used are the percentage of the population undernourished, the percentage of children under five years of age suffering from wasting and stunting, and infant mortality.
The report said that 14% of India’s population was undernourished and the country recorded a stunting rate of 37.4% among children under the age of five and a wasting rate of 17.3%. The mortality rate for children under five was 3.7%. Data from 1991 to 2014 for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan also showed that stunting was concentrated among children in households facing multiple forms of deprivation, including low dietary diversity, low levels of maternal education, and family poverty.
During this period, India experienced a decline in under-five mortality, driven in large part by a decline in deaths from birth trauma or suffocation, neonatal infections, pneumonia and diarrhea.
The report said: “While the 2020 GHI does not yet reflect the impacts of Covid-19, it shows that the situation is already worrying in many contexts and is likely to worsen in the coming years.”
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