India ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the 2021 Global Hunger Index – its rank fell from 94 the last year 2020. The country was also behind its neighbours Pakistan (ranked at 92 position), Nepal(ranked at 76 position) and Bangladesh.
This year, the report accessed data from 135 countries however evaluated only 116 of them as there was not sufficient data from the remaining 19 countries.
The score of the index is evaluated based on four parameters – child wasting, undernourishment, child stunting, and child mortality.
India’s global hunger index score is 27.5 which is a slight improvement from last year’s 27.2 among a list of 107 countries. However, this score still puts India in the “serious” category with other 30 countries including Pakistan. India performed worst in child wasting indicator which shows acute undernutrition. Child wasting in India was 17.3% like last year however it is marginally better than 2019’s 20.8.
The report said that the current projections based on the Global Hunger Index show that the world as a whole – and 47 countries will fail to achieve even low hunger by 2030. It added ” Conflict, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic – three of the most powerful and toxic forces driving hunger – threaten to wipe out any progress that has been made against hunger in recent years. “
