India, which is the world’s second most populated country and home to 150 crore people, ranked 101 in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) for the year 2021. In 2020, India had ranked 94 on the same list.
Surprisingly, India’s neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh left India behind in this ranking as they progressed from their last year’s ranks.
The list for this year was published on Friday, October 15. India however, angrily reacted to this news and said that the methods used to determine these ranks were unscientific in nature.
The report was prepared by the Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and Germany’s Welt Hunger Hilfe. The report said that the situation in India was alarming.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI), tracked hunger and malnutrition in countries of the world and ranked them according to the findings.
It showed that 18 countries, including China, Brazil and Kuwait, shared the top rank, with GHI scores of less than five. The lesser the GHI score, the better the rank on the list.
For the 2021 report, the data was assessed for 135 countries. Out of these, there were sufficient data to calculate GHI scores for 116 countries (in comparison, 107 countries were ranked in the 2020 report).
For 19 countries, individual scores could not be calculated, and the ranks could not be determined due to a lack of data required.
The GHI score is basically based on four parametersundernourishment, child wasting or the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under-nutrition; child stunting or the number of under-five children who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic under-nutrition and child mortality.
Neighbours Nepal (76), Bangladesh (76), Myanmar (71) and Pakistan (92) were also in the alarming? hunger category.