What are the findings of the Global Hunger Index 2019?
The ranking of India in the Global Hunger Index 2019 has slipped to 102nd position from 95 in 2018.
Findings of the Report
- The top rank was shared by Seventeen countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba and Kuwait with GHI scores of less than five.
- India has slipped to 102nd position among 117 countries and finds itself behind its neighbours Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- Even Countries like Yemen and Djibouti which are conflict-ridden and facing severe climate issues respectively have fared better than India on that front.
- Neighbouring countries like Nepal (73), Sri Lanka (66), Bangladesh (88), Myanmar (69) and Pakistan (94) which are also in the ‘serious’ hunger category have fared better at feeding its citizens than India and Sri Lanka was placed in the ‘moderate’ severity category.
- China (25) has moved to a ‘low’ severity category with a score of 6.5. China was the best performer among BRICS countries whereas India was the poor performer.
- Saudi Arabia (rank 34), Venezuela (rank 65, even as its score has doubled from just over 8 to over 16, because of the socio-economic and political crisis), Lesotho (rank 79), Burkina Faso (rank 88), and North Korea (rank 92) were all ranked ahead of India.
- The countries which have ranked below India were Afghanistan, Haiti or Yemen etc which are either poorly governed or war-torn or ravaged by natural calamities.
- India was sandwiched between Niger (score 30.2, rank 101) and Sierra Leone (score 30.4, rank 103).
India has shown improvement in indicators such as the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food.
Topics: GS-II: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in Various Sectors • GS-II: Issues Relating to Poverty and Hunger