Global Hunger Index 2021

Table of Contents

Global Hunger Index 2021: Relevance

Recently, Global Hunger Index 2021 released by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe where it has termed the hunger issue in India alarming.

According to the report, 18 countries, including China, Brazil and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI score of less than five.
For this edition’s report, data was assessed for 135 countries. Out of these, there were sufficient data to calculate GHI scores for 116 countries. In 2019, data were available for 107 countries.
Based on current GHI projections, the index reports that the world as a whole will not achieve a low level of hunger by 2030.

The GHI score is based on four indicators—
- undernourishment;
- child wasting or the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition;
- child stunting or the number of under-5 children who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition;
- and child mortality.

India has been ranked at 101 in the Global Hunger Index Report (GHI) for 2021, down from 94 in the previous year.
India has been trailing behind its South Asian neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
According to the report, wasting among children in India has increased from 17.1% between 1998 and 2002 to 17.3% between 2016 and 2020.
People have been severely hit by covid-19 and the pandemic-related restrictions in India, the country with the highest child-wasting rate worldwide.

Though India showed improvement in indicators such as the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment.

Ministry of Women and Child Development said that it is shocking to find that the Global Hunger Report 2021 is found to be devoid of ground reality and facts and suffers from serious methodological issues.
The ministry said that publishing agencies have not done their due diligence before releasing the report.