RELATED TOPICS: BJP, CONGRESS, FEATURED, GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX, GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX RANKINGS,INDIA, INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, SOCIAL MEDIA

BOOM breaks down how India’s GHI numbers were misreported andwhat the ranking speaks about India’s efforts in alleviating hunger.

Fact File: Understanding India’sGlobal Hunger Index Rankings

FACT FILE

By Sneha Alexander

Published on Oct 18 2017 5:24 pm, Last Updated: Oct 18 2017 10:14 pm

COMMENT

 

 The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) published astatement on October 15 that debunked news reports which stated Indiaslipped 45 places in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) Rankings in 2017. Several Indian media outlets had misreported the GHI report published earlierthat week by comparing India’s 2017 ranking (100) with its 2014 ranking (55)without looking at the base numbers. This was exacerbated on social media by many including politicians suchas Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi who were quick to latch on to theerroneous news articles. 

  However, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) clari�edthat it always discourages year-on-year comparison of a country’s scores andthat rankings are based on current and historical data which are constantlybeing updated by United Nations agencies that compile them. (Click here toread IFPRI’s statement)  

“Concluding from this comparison thatIndia slipped 45 places in the GHI ranking isnot only erroneous but also a grossmisrepresentation of facts.” – IFPRI said

  BOOM breaks down how India’s GHI numbers were misreported and what theranking speaks about India’s e�orts in alleviating hunger. What is the Global Hunger Index? GHI is a tool to track long term progress made by countries in reducinghunger. The report detailing the rankings is published annually by theInternational Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide andWelthungerhilfe. GHI score has 4 components:1) Undernourishment – Measures share of population who areundernourished 2) Child wasting – Measures share of children with low weight against theirheight 3) Child stunting – Measures share of children with low height for their age 4) Child mortality – Measures rate of deaths of children below the age of 5 GHI de�nes ‘hunger’ as the de�ciency of calories as well asmicronutrients. GHI scores are at a 100 point scale with 0 being the best scoreand 100 the worst.  

 Why it’s wrong to compare India’s 2017 ranking (100) to its 2014 ranking(55) 

India ranked 55 out of 76 countries in 2014. The ranking cannot becompared to GHI 2017 which includes 119 countries.

The GHI 2014 report did not include 44 countries with ‘low hunger’scores (0-10). If these countries had been included, India’s ranking in2014 would have been 99 (55+44).

The formula to calculate the GHI score was revised in 2015. (In the earlierformula used between 2006-2014, ‘child underweight’ was used insteadof the indicators – ‘child wasting’ and ‘child stunting’.

Data sources for calculating 2017 GHI scores are from 2012-2016, ofwhich the Congress was in power for two-and-a-half years.

 How did India fare in 2017? In 2017, India ranked 100 out of 119 countries with a score of 31.9. India’s scorefalls in the ‘serious’ category. The report states ‘India has consistently falleninto the upper half of the “serious” hunger levels category in the past fewyears.’ 

14.5% of India’s population is undernourished

21% of Indian children are wasted

38.4% of Indian children are stunted

4.8 / 100 children die before the age of 5

 Among BRICS, India ranks the worst with a score of 31.9. Brazil scored 5.4,Russia – 6.2, China – 7.5 and South Africa – 13.2. India also lagged many South Asian countries. Nepal scored – 22, Myanmar –22.6, Sri Lanka – 25.5 and Bangladesh – 26.6. Only Pakistan (32.6) andAfghanistan (33.3) trail India. How did India fare over the years? Although IFPRI discourages comparisons, it provided GHI scores for the years1992, 2000, 2008 vs 2017. GHI scores for these years were recalculated usingthe revised 2015 formula. GHI scores prior to 2015 are not at all comparablewith scores since 2015. 

Note: Lower the score, lower the hunger level. GHI score point scale is 0 – 100 GHI scores of India have lowered since 1992. In 2008 with a score of 35.9 Indiawas at the lower end of ‘alarming’ category. Now in 2017, with a score of 31.9India is still at the higher end of the  ‘serious’ category. 

  

 

  

 India’s performance has been the worst in the indicator ‘wasting’. The GHI2017 report shows that 21% or 1/5th of of Indian children (0-5) su�er fromwasting and only three countries – Djibouti, Sri Lanka and South Sudan showprevalence of wasting above 20%. Child wasting measures share of childrenwith low weight against their height, The report states that, ‘India’s childwasting rate has not substantially improved over the past 25 years. Though prevalence of stunting among children is quite high at 38.4%, it hasdrastically reduced over time. IFPRI said that countries should look carefully at their performance on theindicators that lie behind the GHI score.  It also suggests that to improve itsperformance India needs to accelerate the progress made in larger states. 

Sneha Alexander is a policy analyst and writes data fact checks. She enjoyslooking for stories behind the numbers and presents it to the reader in a friendlyformat. She has fact-checked some of the country's top ministers and mediapublications for the wrong use of data. Her fact check stories have been carriedby several other prominent digital websites.

Sneha Alexander

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