India Ranks 107 On Global Hunger Index Out Of 121 Countries

Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe released the 2022 edition of the Global Hunger Index which is an annual report that ranks countries around the world based on the measure of the level of hunger. In this year's report, India was the second worst-performing South Asian country, ranking 107 out of 121 countries included.

India's position in the world hunger ranking worsened this year as compared to 2021 as it came down from 101 position in 2021 to 107 in 2022. Among all the South Asian countries, India was the second worst, performing better than only war-torn and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan which ranked 109. India's child-wasting ratio was measured to be 19.3 per cent which is the highest in the world. The report indicates the serious level of hunger prevailing in India despite many rationing facilities and programs provided by the government.

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India Global Hunger Index 2022

The report was prepared by an Irish aid agency named Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, a German organisation that called the level of hunger in India 'serious'. The graveness of the issue can be measured by the fact that India lies below other South Asian countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the Global Hunger Index. India's neighbouring country Pakistan, which is dealing with high levels of international debt, ranked 99. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal ranked 84, 64 and 81.

The report was prepared based on the fifth National Family Health Survey and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Food Security Indicators. The hunger level in India is still high despite of government's Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act and various government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana that aim at providing food to the underprivileged section of society. The report comes at a time when India is preparing to achieve a Sustainable Development Goal of attaining the 'Zero Hunger' mark by the year 2030.

On October 15, the Central Government of India released its stance on India's ranking in GHI and reportedly called the index an "erroneous measure of hunger". The government said that the index has many methodological errors and aims as tainting India's image by showing that the country can't provide food security and proper nutrition to citizens.