The document summarizes the Global Hunger Index (GHI), which measures and tracks hunger globally using three indicators: undernourishment, child underweight, and child mortality. The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale based on these indicators. In 2012, 20 countries had alarming or extremely alarming hunger levels according to the GHI. While global hunger has declined since 1990 according to the GHI, it remains serious at a score of 14.7. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the highest hunger levels. The document also discusses how land, water, and energy scarcity pose challenges to ensuring sustainable food security.

1. -Dr. Shrikant Kalaskar, MPH-SE
-Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Mumbai

2. • “Hunger” is usually understood to refer to the discomfort
associated with lack of food. FAO defines food
deprivation, or “undernourishment,” specifically as the
consumption of fewer than about 1,800 kilocalories a
day—the minimum that most people require to live a
healthy and productive life.

3. • The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to
comprehensively measure and track hunger globally and
by region and country.
• The report, produced by International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern
Worldwide, focuses on the threat of unsustainable land,
water, and energy use to the food security of the world's
economically poorest and most vulnerable.

4. • To raise awareness of regional and country differences
in hunger
• To show progress over time
• To help learn from successes and failures in hunger
reduction
• To provide incentives to act and improve the
international ranking
• To focus on one major hunger-related topic every year

6. • While it would be desirable to assign more than one
indicator to each of the dimensions defined above, data
availability is limited, especially for the prevalence of
micronutrient deficiencies (often referred to as “hidden
hunger”).
• Consequently, three indicators were selected that reflect
vitamin and mineral deficiencies to some extent the three
dimensions:

7. The Global Hunger Index is based on three equally
weighted indicators:
• Undernourishment:
• Child underweight
• Child mortality
Proportion Prevalenc Mortality
of the e of rate of
population underweig children
that is ht in
undernour children under GHI
ished (in under age age five
%) five (in %) (in %) scor
e
3

8. • This multidimensional approach offers several
advantages. It reflects the nutrition situation not only of
the population as a whole, but also of a physiologically
vulnerable group—children—for whom a lack of nutrients
leads to a high risk of illness, poor physical and cognitive
development, and death.
• In addition, by combining independently measured
indicators, it reduces the effects of random measurement
errors.

9. • The Global Hunger Index has the advantage of going
beyond dietary energy availability, which is the focus of
FAO’s measure of undernourishment.
• The GHI’s broader conceptual basis better reflects the
multidimensional causes and manifestations of hunger.
• Inequitable resource allocations between households and
also within households are taken into consideration since
the latter affect the physical well-being of children.
Sufficient food availability at the household level does not
guarantee that all members benefit from it in equal
measure

10. • Data on these indicators come from the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the
World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), various national demographic
and health surveys, and IFPRI estimates.
• The 2012 GHI is calculated for 120 countries for which
data on the three components are available and reflects
data from 2005 to 2010—the most recent global data
available on the three GHI components.

11. • The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0
being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the
worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in
practice.
• Values less than 5.0 reflect -low hunger,
• Values between 5.0 and 9.9 reflect - moderate hunger,
• Values between 10.0 and 19.9 indicate- a serious level of
hunger,
• Values between 20.0 and 29.9- alarming, and
• Values of 30.0 or greater are - extremely alarming.

12. • Minimum and maximum values not observed in
practice

14. • No complete data available for Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Iraq, Myanmar, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Somalia

15. • According to the GHI, hunger on a global scale remains
“serious.” Twenty countries have levels of hunger that are
“alarming” or “extremely alarming.”
• The 2012 world GHI fell by 26 per cent from the 1990
world GHI, from a score of 19.8 to 14.7.
• South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the highest
levels of hunger with regional scores of 22.5 and 20.7,
respectively.
• From the 1990 GHI to the 2012 GHI, 15 countries reduced
their scores by 50 per cent or more.
• In terms of absolute progress, Angola, Bangladesh,
Ethiopia, Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, and Vietnam saw the
largest improvements in their scores from the 1990 to

17. • In terms of absolute progress, Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia,
Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, and Vietnam saw the largest
improvements in their scores from the 1990 to 2012 GHI.
• Haiti’s GHI score fell about one quarter from 1990-2001, but
most of this improvement was reversed in subsequent years.
The devastating 2010 earthquake, although not fully captured
by the 2012 GHI because of insufficient data, pushed Haiti
back into the category of “extremely alarming.”
• With the exception of North Korea, all the countries in which
the hunger situation worsened from the 1990 GHI to the 2012
GHI are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• More than 50 per cent of the population is undernourished in
Burundi, Eritrea, and Haiti.

18. • The GHI has declined somewhat since 1990, but ... … it
remains “serious” with 14.7
• South Asia reduced its GHI score significantly between
1990 an 1996, but ... … could not maintain this rapid
progress
• South Asia in the 1990s made more progress than Sub-
Saharan Africa, but … … has fallen back since, its
2012 score now higher than that of Sub-Saharan
Africa

21. • In the pursuit of agricultural and economic growth, natural
resource scarcity and degradation have generally been
afterthoughts. But recent developments in the land, water,
and energy sectors have been wake-up calls.
• As a result of increasing natural resource scarcity—owing
to population growth, higher incomes, unsustainable
resource consumption, poor policies, and weak
institutions—sustainable food security is now inextricably
linked to developments in the land, water, and energy
sectors.
• Resource scarcity is already having an impact on food
security.
• The world’s best arable land is under cultivation, and
agricultural practices have led to the degradation of
significant amounts of farmland.

22. • As a result of growing food price volatility and food price
spikes, in part driven by land, water, and energy scarcity,
many countries have started to rethink agriculture and
food security strategies
• This rethinking provides an opportunity to ensure that
these strategies are aligned with plans in relation to land,
water, and energy.
• Improving Governance of Natural Resources
• Scaling Up Technical Approaches
• Addressing the Drivers of Natural Resource Scarcity

23. • We need to build a sustainable world, where the
degradation of ecosystems is halted or reversed and all
people have access to food, modern energy, and clean
water and are empowered to use them for their own well-
being.

24. • 2012 Global Hunger Index :The Challenge of Hunger Ensuring Sustainable Food
Security under Land, Water, and Energy Stresses
• FCND Discussion Paper 212 A Global Hunger Index: Measurement Concept,
Ranking of Countries, and Trends Doris Wiesmann