Nepal ranks 73rd among 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020.
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
Based on the values of the four indicators: undernourishment (share of the population with insufficient caloric intake), child wasting (share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition), child stunting (share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition), and child mortality (mortality rate of children under age five, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).
GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.
For the 2020 GHI report, data were assessed for 132 countries. Out of these, there were sufficient data to calculate 2020 GHI scores for and rank 107 countries (by way of comparison, data availability allowed for the ranking of 117 countries in the 2019 report). For 25 countries, individual scores could not be calculated and ranks could not be determined owing to lack of data.
According to a government report, about 2 million people in Nepal are food insecure. The Covid-19 epidemic is expected to exacerbate hunger and food insecurity in Nepal.
According to the FAO, more than 2 billion people in the world currently do not have access to safe, nutritious and adequate food. However, this figure is estimated to be increased up to 10 billion by 2050
In this context, food insecurity and hunger are major challenges for the country, government officials said. The government has called for global initiatives and solidarity to raise public awareness of the importance of food and nutrition security globally and to free those affected by the food crisis and famine from that environment.
India ranked 94 among 107 nations. According to the Global Hunger Index report, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan too are in the ‘serious’ category. Bangladesh ranked 75, Myanmar and Pakistan are in the 78th and 88th position whereas Sri Lanka ranked in 64th position, the report showed.
Seventeen nations, including China, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI scores of less than five, the GHI report said.
