Global Hunger Index 2023

• Context (IE I TH): India ranks 111^th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023, a drop from its 107^th position among 121 countries in 2022.
• The country reports the highest child-wasting rate at 18.7%.
• With a GHI score of 28.7, India’s hunger level is serious.
• The global GHI score for 2023 is 18.3, considered slightly improved from the 2015 score of 19.1.
• Neighboring countries such as Pakistan (102^nd), Bangladesh (81^st), Nepal (69^th), and Sri Lanka (60^th) have better rankings than India.
• South Asia and Africa (South of the Sahara) report the highest hunger levels.

Global Hunger Report

• Global Hunger Report is an annual report jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe (NGOs from Ireland and Germany, respectively).
• GHI scores are based on the values of four indicators (Equally weighted):
  1. Undernourishment
  2. Child stunting
  3. Child wasting
  4. Child mortality
• The GHI scores range between 0 and 100, with higher scores indicating more hunger.

Stunting: a condition where a child’s (under five years) height is lower than the average for their age. Wasting refers to a low weight to height. Underweight refers to a person’s weight being lower than the average for their age.

Issues

• The index suffers from severe methodological issues.
• Three of the four indicators used to calculate the index are related to children’s health and cannot represent the entire population.
• The fourth indicator, which is the estimate of the Proportion of Undernourished (PoU), is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size.

Discrepancy in Child-Wasting Data

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has criticised the GHI, calling it a flawed measure of hunger that doesn’t reflect India’s true position.
• MoWCD claims that data from its Poshan Tracker portal shows a child-wasting prevalence of 7.2% among 7.24 crore under-five-year-olds, contrasting with the GHI’s figure of 18.7%.

Dispute Over Undernourishment Data

• MoWCD also objected to the alleged use of a telephone-based opinion poll to calculate undernourishment, one of the indicators used in GHI.
• However, the GHI maintains that it doesn’t use such a poll but relies on India’s Food Balance Sheet data to calculate undernourishment.