Why in News?

• The Global Hunger Index report 2018 released annually by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.

Component indicators of GHI:

• Undernourishment: the share of the population which is undernourished and reflects insufficient caloric intake.
• Child wasting: The share of children under the age of five who are wasted (low weightfor-height), reflecting acute undernutrition.
• Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (low heightfor-age), reflecting chronic undernutrition.
• Child mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five.

Dimensions of hunger:

• The GHI scores are based on a formula that captures three dimensions of hunger-
  • Insufficient caloric intake
  • Child under nutrition
  • Child mortality

Performance of India:

• India has been ranked at 103 out of 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2018, with hunger levels in the country categorized as “serious”.
• At least one in five Indian children under the age of five is wasted.
• India’s ranking has dropped three places from last year
• The percentage of undernourished people in the population has dropped from 18.2% in 2000 to 14.8% in 2018. The child mortality rate has halved from 9.2% to 4.3%.
• The child stunting has dropped from 54.2% to 38.4% over the same period
• The only country with a higher prevalence of child wasting is the war-torn nation of South Sudan.

Concerns:

• Hunger and forced migration world wide
• The Index projects that at the current rate of progress, 50 countries will fail to reach the “low” hunger category by 2030.