Why in News?
Global Hunger Index 2020 Released. The latest GHI projections show that 37 countries will fail to achieve even low hunger by 2030.
Global Hunger Index 2020
- According to 2020 GHI scores, 3 countries have alarming levels of hunger – Chad, Timor-Leste, and Madagascar.
- Hunger is also considered to be alarming in 8 countries – Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen – based on provisional categorizations.
- Undernourishment
- Nearly 690 million people are undernourished
- 144 million children suffer from stunting, a sign of chronic under nutrition
- 47 million children suffer from wasting, a sign of acute under nutrition
- In 2018, 5.3 million children died before their fifth birthdays, in many cases as a result of under nutrition.
- Worldwide hunger is at a moderate level, according to the 2020 Global Hunger Index.
- The world is not on track to achieve the second Sustainable Development Goal – known as Zero Hunger for short – by 2030.
- At the current pace, approximately 37 countries will fail even to reach low hunger, as defined by the GHI Severity Scale, by 2030.
- For 14 countries in those categories, GHI scores show that hunger and undernutrition have worsened.
India in the report
- India ranks 94 among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2020.
- With a score of 27.2 India has a level of hunger that is serious.
- India’s rank was 102 out of 117 countries last year.
- India features behind Nepal (73), Pakistan (88), Bangladesh (75), Indonesia (70) among others.
- Out of the total 107 countries, only 13 countries fare worse than India including countries like Rwanda (97), Nigeria (98), Afghanistan (99), Liberia (102), Mozambique (103), Chad (107) among others.
- Data from 1991 through 2014 for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan showed that stunting is concentrated among children from households facing multiple forms of deprivation, including poor dietary diversity, low levels of maternal education, and household poverty
- Issues Mentioned
- 14 per cent of India’s population is undernourished.
- The country recorded a child stunting rate of 37.4 per cent.
- Stunted children are those who have a low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
Global Hunger Index
- Annual report, jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.
- GHI scores are calculated each year to assess progress and setbacks in combating hunger.
- It is calculated on the basis of four indicators
- Undernourishment
- Cchild wasting (share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition),
- Child stunting (share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition)
- Child mortality
- Based on the values of the four indicators, the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
Source : Indian Express
GS II : Issues relating to poverty and hunger
Current Affairs Compilation : 17 October 2020