India was ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the recently released Global Hunger Index . It was one among the 31 nations where hunger has been classified as "serious". The country's rank has been on the downward trend since 2016. Four indicators were used to compute the score — share of the population that is undernourished, share of children under five who are wasted (low weight for height), share of of children under five who are stunted ((low height for age), and the under-five moratlity rate. Among these, while wasting has increased compared to 2012, stunting and mortality have reduced. The results of the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-20) also showed that in the majority of the States for which data were released, stunting and wasting increased compared to the 2015-16 survey round.
Declining trend
India's rank in the Global Hunger Index has consistently worsened in the last 10 years. The country's rank has become quite poor since 2016.
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According to the GHI, the prevalence of wasting in children under five in India increased in 2021 compared to 2012, the earlier year for which data are available. On the other hand, the prevalence of stunting in children under five and the under-five mortality rate have consitently declined since 2000.
Also read: Editorial | Discouraging numbers: On National Family Health Survey 2019-20
Prevalence of wasting
The chart plots the share of children under five who were wasted according to NFHS-5 (2019-20) against the change from NFHS-4 (2015-16). In 10 out of the 18 States, a higher % of children were wasted in 2019-20 compared to 2015-16. Only six States performed better on this count. No change was recorded in two States.
Prevalence of stunting
The chart plots the share of children under five who were stunted according to NFHS-5 (2019-20) against the change from NFHS-4 (2015-16). In 11 out of the 18 States, a higher % of children were stunted in 2019-20 compared to 2015-16. Seven States saw an improvement on this count.
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