New Delhi: India is now ranked 94th out of 107 countries in terms of hunger, and remains in the category of ‘severe’ hunger according to the Global Hunger Index 2020. According to the study, 14% of India’s population is undernourished.
Last year, the GHI ranking of India was 102 out of 117 countries. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the worst hunger conditions of any region in the world, the GHI found.
The GHI is “a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional and national levels.” Data from the United Nations and other multilateral agencies are used for the calculation.
India ranks lower than most of its South Asian neighbors: Pakistan (88), Nepal (73), Bangladesh (75), Sri Lanka (64) and Myanmar (78), and only Afghanistan is worse, in 99th place. Bhutan statistics are not available.
South Asia has the highest rate of child wasting of all regions and India is the worst performer. At 17.3%, India’s child wasting rate is only slightly better than last year at 20.8%. Child stunting is also extremely high in South Asia. “Data from 1991 to 2014 for Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan showed that stunting is concentrated among children from households facing multiple forms of deprivation, including low dietary diversity, low levels of maternal education, and family poverty, ”according to the report.
Source: GHI 2020
One positive aspect of the report on India is the reduction in under-five mortality. However, this does not mean that the problem is over: “India, the most populous country in the region, experienced a decline in under-five mortality in this period, driven largely by the decline in deaths from suffocation. or birth trauma, neonatal infections, pneumonia, and diarrhea. However, infant mortality caused by prematurity and low birth weight increased, particularly in the poorest states and rural areas. Preventing prematurity and low birth weight Birth weight is identified as a key factor with the potential to reduce under-five mortality in India, through actions such as better prenatal care, education and nutrition, as well as reductions in anemia and tobacco use orally, ”the study recommends.
According to the 2020 GHI, no country that has been classified falls into the category of “extremely alarming” hunger. Three countries, Chad, Timor-Leste and Madagascar, have been included in the “alarming” category.
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