Global Hunger Index: India slips to 101 from 94

New Delhi: India has slipped to 101st position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries, from its 94th ranking in 2020.

As per the 2021 rankings, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have fared better than India.

The 2021 report, prepared by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe, said the level of hunger in India is 'alarming'.

As per the website of the Global Hunger Index that tracks hunger and malnutrition, eighteen countries, including China, Brazil and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI score of less than five.

India's GHI score has also decelerated - from 38.8 in 2000 to the range of 28.8 - 27.5 between 2012 and 2021.

The GHI score is calculated on four indicators -- undernourishment; child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who are wasted i.e who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition); child stunting (children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition) and child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five).

The share of wasting among children in India rose from 17.1 per cent between 1998-2002 to 17.3 per cent between 2016-2020, according to the report.

The report noted that people have been severely hit by COVID-19 and by pandemic related restrictions in India, the country with highest child wasting rate worldwide.

Neighbouring countries like Nepal (76), Bangladesh (76), Myanmar (71) and Pakistan (92) are also in the 'alarming' hunger category, but have fared better at feeding its citizens than India, according to the report.

However, India has shown improvement in other indicators such as the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food, the report said.

According to the report, the fight against hunger is dangerously off track. Based on the current GHI projections, the world as a whole - and 47 countries in particular - will fail to achieve a low level of hunger by 2030.

Food security is under assault on multiple fronts, it said, adding that worsening conflict, weather extremes associated with global climate change, and the economic and health challenges associated with the COVID19 pandemic are all driving hunger. "Inequality -- between regions, countries, districts, and communities -- is pervasive and, (if) left unchecked, will keep the world from achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) mandate to leave no one behind," the report said.

Further, the report noted that it is difficult to be optimistic in 2021 because the forces now driving hunger are overpowering good intentions and lofty goals. Among the most powerful and toxic of these forces are conflict, climate change, and COVID-19 - three Cs that threaten to wipe out any progress that has been made against hunger in recent years, it added.