GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX REPORT 2013

The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI), released on 14 October 2013 by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide- revealed that 842 million people were chronically under nourished across the world. The 2013 GHI is calculated for 120 countries, its scores are based on three equally weighted indicators.

The GHI combines three equally weighted indicators into one score:

1.The proportion of people who are undernourished.

2.The proportion of children under five who are underweight.

3.The mortality rate of children younger than age five.

An increase in a country’s GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates improvement in the country’s hunger situation.

2013: Global Hunger Index Theme: The challenge of hunger: building resilience 2013 global hunger index to achieve food and nutrition security.

Report Highlights

The 2013 Index indicates that global hunger is decreasing; the 2013 world GHI score has fallen by 34 percent from the 1990 GHI score. Yet world hunger still remains “serious,” with 19 countries suffering from levels of hunger that are either “alarming” or “extremely alarming.”

South Asia has the highest regional GHI score, followed by Africa south of the Sahara while Burundi, Eritrea and Comoros have the highest levels of hunger.

India performance

• India has moved from 65 to 63 in the Global Hunger Index, making a marginal improvement since 2012, but continues to suffering far behind other emerging economies.

• The score for India has improved slightly from 22.9 in 2012 to 21.3 in 2013. Within SAARC countries also, India continued to trail behind Pakistan and Bangladesh on the index.

• The level of hunger in India remained at ‘alarming levels’ and the report also noted that it is one of the three countries outside Sub-Saharan Africa to fall in this category. The other two are Haiti and Timor-Leste.

• India continued to record one of the highest prevalence of children under five who are underweight, at more than 40 per cent.

1.Undernourished population 2010-12:  17.5 Per cent

2.Underweight children <5years 2008-12: 40.2 Per cent

3.Under-5 Mortality 2011: 6.1 Per cent

South Asia Region

• South Asia continued to have the maximum number of hungry people in the world, followed by sub-Saharan Africa.
• Social inequality and the low nutritional, educational, and social status of women are major causes of child under-nutrition in the South Asian region.

Emerging economies Performance

• Other emerging economies with high growth trajectories have done a much better job at pulling people out of hunger, when in comparison to India.

• China improved its ranking by 57.69 per cent between 1990-2012, while India showed a 34 per cent improvement in the same period.

• Brazil, in comparison, had a much better score to begin with and by 2012 entered the select block of nations doing the best to fight hunger.

• Countries that have achieved the highest progress on this front included Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Ghana, Thailand and Vietnam -all achieving more than 55 percent increase in their Global Hunger Index score.

About Global Hunger Index

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally and by country and region. Calculated each year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the GHI highlights successes and failures in hunger reduction and provides insights into the drivers of hunger. By raising awareness and understanding of regional and country differences in hunger, the GHI aims to trigger actions to reduce hunger.

The theme of the 2013 GHI report is resilience in theory and in practice.

To reflect the multidimensional nature of hunger, the GHI combines three equally weighted indicators in one index number:

1. Undernourishment: the proportion of undernourished as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient calorie intake);

2. Child underweight: the proportion of children younger than the age of five who are underweight (low weight for age reflecting wasting, stunted growth, or both), which is one indicator of child undernutrition; and

3. Child mortality: the mortality rate of children younger than the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate dietary intake and unhealthy environments).

The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale. Zero is the best score (no hunger), and 100 is the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in practice.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries.

Welthungerhilfe

Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest nongovernmental aid organisations in Germany. It provides fully integrated aid from one source, ranging from rapid emergency relief to reconstruction programmes, as well as long-term projects with local partner organisations following the principle of help toward self-help. Since its foundation in 1962, more than 6800 projects have been carried out in 70 countries with a total funding of 2.39 billion euros, striving for a world without hunger or poverty.

Concern Worldwide

Concern Worldwide is an international non-governmental humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. The mission is to help people living in extreme poverty achieve major improvements in their lives which last and spread without ongoing support from Concern. To achieve this mission Concern engages in long term development work, responds to emergency situations, and seeks to address the root causes of poverty through development education and advocacy work. Concern currently works in 27 of the world’s poorest countries.

Launch of 2013 Global Hunger Index - Interview with Derek Headey