By Ramsha Sartaj
With a score of 24.1, India continues to remain in the serious category, a classification it has not managed to break out of since 2012.
India ranks 100 among 122 countries in the 2026 Global Hunger Index (GHI), which is released once every six years.
The index is released jointly by the German aid agency Welthungerhilfe (WHH) and Concern Worldwide, an Irish organisation, along with partner institutions: the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) and the Swiss organisation Helvetas.
With a score of 24.1, India continues to remain in the serious category, a classification it has not managed to break out of since 2012. As per the index, 9.8% of the population remain undernourished and 29.3% of the children under five are stunted, a very high rate for the first time. In India, child wasting rose to 19%, the highest in South Asia, up from 16.9% in the previous reference period.
India’s progress in reducing hunger has slowed as its score has eased 1.7 points between 2018 and 2026, from 25.8. This is much slower than the 8.2-point improvement between 2006 and 2012. South Asia’s score is 23.5, and its child wasting rate of 15.8% is the highest in any region.
“The situation in South Asia also remains serious (GHI 23.5). In many countries, progress has stagnated in recent years. In two countries, and Pakistan, the situation has deteriorated compared to 2018. Remarkable progress has been made in Nepal, while the situation in Bangladesh and India is also improving,” the report notes.
The GHI is a tool designed to track and measure hunger at global, regional and national levels, reflecting various dimensions of hunger over time. The score is calculated based on four indicators: undernourishment (the share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient), child stunting (the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition), child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height reflecting acute undernutrition), child mortality (the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, reflecting in part the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).
The report also highlights that armed conflicts is one of the main drivers of hunger, with state-based conflicts reaching their highest level since World War II. There has been a rise in food prices due to Russia’s war against Ukraine and the war against Iran which has profoundly disrupted global trade. The population may tend to shift to cheaper and less nutritious food or skipping meals, resulting in malnutrition. Meanwhile, climate change-related extreme weather events and crop failures worsen food insecurity, while interconnected crises weaken food systems’ resilience.
The decline in international funding has pushed food security spending to 2016–2017 levels, forcing aid programmes to scale back assistance and cut emergency food rations. Reduced funding also weakens monitoring, allowing emergencies to go unnoticed when data on undernourishment and child mortality are no longer collected. Nevertheless, 31 countries have reduced their GHI scores by at least 10% since 2018. Uganda and Togo have made significant progress in Africa, while Nepal has achieved the greatest progress in South Asia since 2000.
For South Asia, the report flags an intensifying El Niño and the prospect of a deficient 2026 monsoon, citing an India Meteorological Department forecast of a 60% probability of below-normal rainfall across the Monsoon Core Zone, which covers most of India’s rainfed farmland.
Also Read: Indian Teen’s Death Pushes NYC Closer To Horse-Drawn Carriage Ban By 2028
