In today’s Finshots, we talk about the Global Hunger Index (GHI) and whether it’s really a reliable measure of hunger in India.
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The Story
Hunger isn’t just an empty stomach. It’s the empty plates, the frail bodies and the desperate eyes of those who go without food. It’s a hard thing to put into words, let alone measure. But every year, two organisations — Concern Worldwide, based in Ireland and Welthungerhilfe, a German non-profit organisation, try to put a number on it.
They release the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a report that scores hunger levels across the world using a simple 100-point scale.
If a country scores below 20, hunger is considered low to moderate. But as the score inches above 20 and climbs towards 50, it signals serious to alarming levels of hunger. Anything over 50 means hunger has reached extreme levels. And this year, India clocked in at 27.3.1 It’s a slight improvement from last year's 28.7, but it still puts India in the ‘serious’ hunger category.
And it doesn’t get better when you compare us to our neighbours. India is just slightly ahead of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and far behind China, which boasts low hunger levels. Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka all score better, sitting in the moderate range. With a rank of 105 out of 127 countries, India has improved slightly from 111th place last year. But again, it’s not much to cheer about.
Now, if you’ve been paying attention, you probably know that the Indian government isn’t exactly a fan of this report. For the past two years, it has slammed the GHI for being flawed and not accurately capturing India’s situation.2 And while there hasn’t been an official statement this year, the criticisms still hold water because the way the GHI is calculated hasn't changed after all.
So, it makes you wonder… Just how reliable is the GHI?
To answer that, we need to understand how the GHI actually works. Sure, it’s supposed to measure hunger, but what does that exactly mean?
See, hunger here isn’t about those mid-meal cravings or the growl in your stomach before dinner. It’s about a chronic lack of calories, the kind of deprivation that leads to serious health issues. And according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), hunger is when someone doesn’t get enough calories to live a healthy life.
Now, the GHI uses four key indicators to put a number on hunger. First, there’s undernourishment or how many people in a population don’t get enough calories to meet basic needs. Then there’s child stunting, which tracks children under five who are too short for their age due to malnutrition. Next is child wasting which looks at kids who are too thin for their height, again because of severe malnutrition. And finally, there’s child mortality, or the percentage of children who don’t make it past their fifth birthday.
These indicators don’t just show whether people have enough to eat. They also reflect the broader health and living conditions. But even without us pointing it out, here’s something you might notice. Three out of four indicators — stunting, wasting and mortality, focus only on children under five. Only undernourishment looks at the entire population.
And that might make it seem like the GHI leans a little too heavily on child-focused indicators.3
Well, that’s the government’s argument too. And it’s not alone. Experts from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) have pointed out that these metrics might not always apply to a country like India without some adjustments.4
To put things in perspective, children and adults in India often have smaller body frames compared to global standards, meaning classifications for height and weight should differ. In fact, across Asia, the cut-off measures for height and weight are generally lower. So if the GHI uses these metrics without adjusting for regional differences, it might wrongly label children as malnourished just because they don’t fit a global average.
Another issue is calorie requirements. The GHI uses a global benchmark of 1,800 kilocalories (kcal) to measure hunger. But Indians typically tend to have a lower Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the energy we use while resting, and lower Physical Activity Levels (PAL). So for many Indians, a realistic figure might be closer to 1,500 kcal. And that means the GHI could be again overshooting the hunger problem by using a one-size-fits-all calorie requirement.
These criticisms make sense when you consider the broader context. Because the Indian government has been actively working to improve food security, and it's important to take these efforts into account to get a complete picture of the situation.
Take the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), for example, one of the world’s largest food security programs. It provides free grains to over 80 crore people. That’s 50% more beneficiaries than nearly a decade ago. Even during the pandemic, the government ramped up its support by increasing foodgrain allocations. Then there’s the Poshan Tracker, launched in 2021 to boost nutrition for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Recognized by UNICEF and WHO (World Health Organization), the app now supports over 10 crore people.
All of this shows that India is making progress in tackling hunger and malnutrition.
But there’s a key question you might be missing. Why does a global report on hunger focus so heavily on children under five in the first place?
Well, the answer lies in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These global goals aim to address challenges like poverty, inequality and hunger by 2030. And the GHI indicators align closely with the SDGs, which specifically target hunger and malnutrition, especially in young children. This is because children under five are in a crucial growth phase, and poor nutrition can lead to lifelong health issues. Metrics like stunting, wasting and child mortality offer a clearer picture of whether a country is nurturing its youngest and most vulnerable.5 Adults, on the other hand, are in a more stable phase. They need food to stay healthy, not to grow.
So, while the GHI might not perfectly represent the entire population, it provides a snapshot of how a country fares in taking care of that part of its population that is most at risk. And that, in itself, is telling.
But despite India's efforts, the data still shows troubling trends. Child wasting remains stubbornly high at 18% in 2024 compared to 17% in 1999. Even the FAO's data shows a disconnect. Hunger rates fell slightly from 14% during the pandemic to 13.7% in 2021-23, but that’s still above the pre-pandemic level of 10% in 2014-16. This means millions more people have been struggling with chronic hunger in recent years.
So, the issue here isn’t just hunger. It’s also the quality and timing of data. And this disconnect is something the government might need to address. But, how can it do that, you ask?
One way is to make sure that data reporting gets a makeover and stays on schedule.
The government runs multiple surveys to track food consumption, labour and health metrics, like the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey and the National Family Health Survey. But these surveys rely on samples, and to verify their accuracy, a full census, which hasn’t been conducted in 13 years, is crucial. Because a comprehensive census can help double-check the information, making sure that we have an accurate picture of hunger and poverty in the country.
And that’s likely the way to put an end to this GHI fallacy problem once and for all. Otherwise, we’ll only be left with an incomplete view, relying on press releases and sample surveys, which may not be the best way to confidently challenge global metrics like the GHI. What do you think?
Until then…
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Story Sources: Global Hunger Index [1], Press Information Bureau [2], Moneycontrol [3], NAAS Report on Limitations of GHI and Way Forward [4], The Hindu [5]
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