India ranks 97th of 118 countries on Global Hunger Index
Q. India ranked at which position out of 118 nations in the Global Hunger Index?- Published on 13 Oct 16a. 95
b. 96
c. 97
d. 98
ANSWER: 97
India secured the 97th rank in a survey of 118 nations by the International Food Policy Research Institute Global Hunger Index in 2016 behind Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
- However, India was ahead of Pakistan and three other Asian nations
- It was positioned at 80 of the 104 countries in the previous year
- India has improved its score on various parameters over the past few years
- But, 2 in 5 children below 5 years of age are stunted in India
- Stunting measures chronic malnutrition and affected children’s height which is lower beyond the average for their age
- The country also has serious hunger levels according to the 2016 Index
- The country has only the fifth highest rank in the whole of Asia, better than North Korea, Pakistan, Timor Leste and Afghanistan
- Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had higher ranks among 96 nations than India
- India also had the lowest rank among BRICS nations with Brazil in the top 16, Russia at 24, China at 29 and South Africa at 51
- The Central African Republic, Chad and Zambia were estimated to have the highest level of hunger
- For the developing world, GHI score was estimated at 21.3 according to the report which is at the lower end of the serious category.
- The Global Hunger Index is based on the performance of the country on indicators such as proportion of the undernourished in the population, prevalence of wasting in children under 5 years, prevalence of stunting in children under five years and the under-five mortality rate
- Data presented in the report showed that on each of these indicators, India has progressed over the past few years
- Towards the close of 2016, around 15 percent of the country’s population was undernourished down from 17 percent till the close of 2009.
