13-10-2023 : India’s position in the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) has slipped to 111th out of 125 countries, marking a concerning decline from its 2022 ranking of 107th. The GHI report, released by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, non-government organizations from Ireland and Germany, reveals a “serious” level of hunger in India with a GHI score of 28.7.
In response to the report, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has rejected its findings, labeling it as “flawed” and “erroneous.” The ministry argues that the GHI is not a reliable measure of hunger and does not accurately reflect India’s true position. The report has ranked other South Asian countries, such as Pakistan at 102, Bangladesh at 81, Nepal at 69, and Sri Lanka at 60, with South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa being identified as regions with the highest hunger levels.
The government’s objections to the GHI are based on concerns about its methodology. The ministry states that three of the four indicators used to calculate the index pertain to the health of children and do not represent the entire population. Furthermore, the most significant indicator, the “Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population,” relies on a small sample size of 3,000 for its data.
The report also highlights India’s concerning child wasting rate, which is identified as the highest in the world at 18.7%. The rate of undernourishment is 16.6%, and under-five mortality stands at 3.1%. Additionally, the prevalence of anemia among women aged 15 to 24 years is reported at 58.1%.
The ministry emphasizes that child mortality, one of the GHI indicators, is not a direct outcome of hunger. It also contends that stunting and wasting, the other two indicators, result from complex interactions of various factors beyond hunger, such as sanitation, genetics, environment, and food intake.
To counter the GHI report, the ministry cites data from the Poshan Tracker, which has shown consistent increases in the measurement data of children under five years since April 2023. The percentage of child wasting, according to the Poshan Tracker, has remained below 7.2% each month, in contrast to the GHI’s reported figure of 18.7% for child wasting in 2023.
Despite India’s decline in the GHI ranking, the government’s rejection of the report’s methodology raises questions about the accuracy and reliability of such global assessments in evaluating the country’s hunger and nutrition situation.