Global Hunger Index 2021

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for tracking and quantifying hunger on a global, regional, and national level. Each year, GHI scores are produced to monitor progress and setbacks in the fight against hunger. The GHI is intended to enhance awareness and knowledge of the fight against hunger, to give a tool to compare hunger levels across countries and regions, and to draw attention to parts of the world where hunger levels are highest and where additional efforts to eradicate hunger are most needed.

Hunger is difficult to quantify. To get the most out of the GHI data, it’s important to understand how the scores are produced and what they can and can’t tell us.

How are the scores for the Global Hunger Index calculated

To highlight the multifaceted nature of hunger, GHI scores are produced utilising a three-step approach that draws on available data from diverse sources.

First, values for four indicators are determined for each country:

UNDERNUTRITION: The percentage of the population that is malnourished (i.e., whose caloric intake is insufficient);

WASTING OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE: The percentage of children under the age of five that are wasted (that is, have a low weight for their height, indicating acute malnutrition);

STUNTING IN CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE: The percentage of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, have a short stature for their age, indicating chronic malnutrition).

MORTALITY OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE: The mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).

Second, each of the four component indicators is assigned a standardised score on a 100-point scale based on the indicator’s greatest observed global level in recent decades.

Third, standardised scores are added together to provide the GHI score for each country, with equal weight given to each of the three factors (inadequate food supply, child mortality, and poverty), and child undernutrition, which includes both stunting and wasting) (the formula for calculating GHI scores is provided in Appendix B).

GHI scores are calculated using a three-step procedure, with 0 indicating no hunger and 100 indicating intense hunger on a 100-point GHI Severity Scale. Neither of these extremes is realised in practice. A number of 0 indicates that there are no undernourished people in a country, no stunted or wasted children under the age of five, and no children who die before their fifth birthday. A score of 100 indicates that a country’s levels of malnutrition, child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality are all at or near the highest levels seen globally in recent decades. The GHI Severity Scale depicts the severity of hunger, ranging from mild to severe, as well as the range of possible GHI scores.

Why are there four separate indications in the Global Hunger Index

There are various advantages to using this combination of markers to gauge hunger. The GHI formula includes signs that reflect both caloric deficits and inadequate nutrition. The undernourishment indicator reflects the nutrition status of the entire population, whereas the indicators specific to children reflect the nutrition status of a particularly vulnerable subset of the population for whom a lack of dietary energy, protein, and/or micronutrients (essential vitamins and minerals) causes illness, poor physical and cognitive development, and death. The GHI can capture both acute and chronic undernutrition because it includes both child wasting and child stunting. The index lowers the effects of random measurement mistakes by combining numerous indicators.

Global Hunger Index of India in 2021

In the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021, India has slipped to 101st rank out of 116 countries, down from 94th place in 2020., and is now behind Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.On Thursday, the website of the Global Hunger Index, which records hunger and malnutrition, announced that eighteen countries, including China, Brazil, and Kuwait, shared the top spot with a GHI score of less than five.The degree of hunger in India, according to the report, is “alarming.” It was written by Concern Worldwide, an Irish charity organisation, and Welt Hunger Hilfe, a German organisation.

India was rated 94th out of 107 countries in 2020. With 116 countries participating, it has slipped to 101st place.Between 2012 and 2021, India’s GHI score dropped from 38.8 in 2000 to a range of 28.8 – 27.5.

Child stunting, malnutrition, and child wasting (the proportion of children under the age of five that are wasted, i.e., have a low weight for their height, indicating acute malnutrition), and are child mortality, maternal mortality, and infant mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five).

According to the survey, wasting among youngsters in India increased from 17.1 percent in 1998-2002 to 17.3 percent in 2016-2020.According to the survey, wasting among youngsters in India increased from 17.1 percent in 1998-2002 to 17.3 percent in 2016-2020.”In India, the country with the highest child wasting rate in the world,” the research stated, “COVID-19 and pandemic-related limitations have had a negative impact on people.”According to the poll, neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan exhibit “troubling” levels of hunger, but many have done a much better job trying to feed their people than India.

Conclusion

Children’s malnutrition has reached epidemic proportions. In the developing world, nearly 195 million children under the age of five roughly one in every three children are too tiny and hence undeveloped. 129 million children under the age of five are underweight, and one in ten is seriously underweight.According to the information offered in the report, the window of opportunity for enhancing nutrition covers 1,000 days (from -9 to +24 months) between conception and a child’s second birthday. Children who do not acquire appropriate nutrition during this time are more likely to suffer lifetime consequences, such as stunted physical and cognitive development, poor health, and even death. Malnutrition that occurs after a child’s first 24 months of life, on the other hand, is mostly reversible.