Criticism of Global Hunger Index Methodology

Why in the News?

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023 ranked India 111 among 125 nations, a fall of four places from last year has received a push-back by the Indian government.

India scored poorer than several of its neighboring countries on the index, including Pakistan (102nd), Bangladesh (81st), Nepal (69th), and Sri Lanka (60th).

Global Hunger Index (GHI):

1. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.

GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators: 1. Undernourishment: This indicator measures the proportion of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements on a continuous basis. It is based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 2. Child Wasting: This indicator measures the proportion of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition. It is based on data from WHO, World Bank and UNICEF.  3. Child Stunting: This indicator measures the proportion of children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition. It is based on data from WHO, World Bank and UNICEF. 4. Child Mortality: This indicator measures the mortality rate of children under the age of five. It is based on data from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. The four indicators are given different weightages in the calculation of the GHI score. Undernourishment is given the highest weight of one-third, while child wasting, child stunting and child mortality are given equal weights of one-sixth each. These four components together provide a multidimensional measure of hunger and undernutrition in countries.

3. Important observations of GHI, 2023:
   1. Global hunger remains too high, and progress on reducing hunger has largely stalled, with 2023 global GHI score at 18.3 considered moderate.

3. 2. The right to adequate food is being violated for nearly three-quarters of a billion people every day.
   3. This stagnation relative to 2015 figures largely reflects the combined effects of several crises such as:-
      1. COVID-19 pandemic
      2. The Russia-Ukraine war
      3. Economic stagnation
      4. Impacts of climate change
      5. Higher food prices
   4. The crises have aggravated inequalities between regions, countries, and groups.
   5. According to Global Hunger Index 2023 projections 58 countries will not achieve low hunger by 2030 at the current pace with the prevalence of undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality are all off track.
   6. Many youth in low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable to food security and nutrition crises.
   7. Countries that still suffer from Hunger include:
      1. There are six countries with 2023 GHI scores in the alarming range—
         1. Central African Republic
         2. Madagascar
         3. Yemen
         4. Democratic Republic of the Congo
         5. Lesotho
         6. Niger
      2. Three additional countries that are provisionally designated as alarming
         1. Burundi
         2. Somalia
         3. South Sudan.

Why has the methodology of GHI being criticised?

1. Non-representative
   1. The calculation of the index is related to the health of children (3 of the 4 indicators) and cannot be representative of the entire population.
2. Very small sample size based on Opinion poll
   1. The fourth and most important indicator i.e., proportion of the undernourished population is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3,000.
3. The report ignores the food security efforts undertaken to address the issues of hunger and malnutrition.

Bleak spots of India’s development story:

1. Undernutrition is a major problem despite schemes such as Poshan 2.0 and distribution of provisions under the National Food Security Act, 2013. The problems persist due to:

   1. Technical glitches
   2. Bureaucratic hurdles
   3. Social and economic inequalities
   4. Gender discrimination
2. National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5 has found that 89% of children between the formative ages of 6-23 months do not receive a “minimum acceptable diet’.
3. High rates of anaemia were prevalent across large sections
   1. Children below six years
   2. Adolescent girls and boys
   3. Women between 15 to 49 years, including pregnant women.

Though criticisms about the methodology may be valid, it shouldn’t divert policymakers’ attention from the persistent problem of poor food intake.