GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX 2022

Why in News?:

Barring the war-torn Afghanistan, India has performed worse than all the countries in the South Asian region in the Global Hunger Index 2022. It has ranked 107 out of 121 countries.

What is the GHI?: It is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.

GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators:

Undernourishment

Child stunting

Child wasting

Child mortality

The GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger - zero is the best score (implies no hunger) and 100 is the worst.

It is prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.

Top and Worst Performers:

Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Chile, China and Croatia are the top five countries in GHI 2022.

Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Central African Republic and Yemen are the countries ranked at the bottom of the index.

India and Neighboring Countries: Among the South Asian countries, India (107) is ranked below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), and Pakistan (99).

India has a score of 29.1 which places it under ‘serious’ category.

Afghanistan (109) is the only country in South Asia that performs worse than India on the index.

China, with a score of less than 5, has topped the chart, topped the chart, together with 16 other countries.

Important definitions:

Child mortality rate(under-five mortality rate): It refers to the probability of dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births.

Stunting: It is defined as low height-for-age. It is the result of chronic or recurrent undernutrition.

Undernourishment: It is a measure of the proportion of the population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake.

Child Wasting: Wasting refers to children whose weight is low-for-their height.