Global Hunger Index 2021: At 101, India behind Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: India has been ranked 101 among 116 participating countries in the Global Hunger Index 2021 released on Thursday. India has performed worse than last year when it was ranked 94 in the Global Hunger Index 2020. As per the report, 15.3 percent of the Indian population is undernourished.

The Global Hunger Index 2021 has placed countries in the following categories according to the severity of problems. These are low, moderate, serious, alarming and extremely alarming.

Also Read | PM Poshan is an old scheme with a new name: Activists

The top 18 “best countries” have not been ranked separately at all -- Brazil and China are both among them. India has been placed in the serious category where it was in 2019 and 2020 as well.

Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, Yemen, Burundi, Comoros, South Sudan, and Syrian Arab Republic were placed in the alarming category. Only Somalia featured in the extremely alarming category.

Last year, India was the worst performing country in the child wasting rate. Wasting in children is the condition in which they have “low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition”.

Pakistan (92), Nepal(76) and Bangladesh(76) have all fared better than India in the Global Hunger Index 2021.

Also Read | 9.5 crore students provided food in March-August: Education Ministry

Only 15 countries have been placed below India in the index this year. These include Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Congo, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, Yemen and Somalia.

The report states that there is a danger of countries not reaching zero hunger by 2030.

“The 2021 Global Hunger Index (GHI) points to a dire hunger situation in a world coping with multiple crises. Progress toward Zero Hunger by 2030, already far too slow, is showing signs of stagnating or even being reversed,” said the report.

The report also said that undernourishment is on the increase worldwide.