The Global Hunger Index

The Global Hunger Index

(Source: Welthungerhilfe)

The Global Hunger Index is an index designed to measure hunger and malnutrition. The index has been develped by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Welthungerhilfe The Index is calculated on the basis of the following three sub indices:

1.The percentage of mal nourished population as a percentage of the total population of a country 2. The percentage of underweight children as a percentage of total children who are less than five years of age
3. The infant mortality rate in case of children who are less than five years of age

All the three sub indices have equal weight in calculating the Global Hunger Index.

The Global Hunger Index ranks countries on a 100-point scale. A zero on a scale of hundred implied a best case and implies that there is no problem of hunger in the country. A 100 on the scale implies the worst that can happen and that the country is suffering from extreme hunger and malnourishment.

Index Value	Status
less than 4.9	low hunger
between 5 and 9.9	moderate hunger
between 10 and 19.9	serious problem
between 20 and 29.9	extremely alarming.

The
Global Hunger Index for 2008 has been calculated for 120 countries. The ranking
of the countries on this index is as below:

Rank	Country	Global Hunger Index
1	Mauritius	5
2	Jamaica	5.1
3	Moldova	5.4
4	Cuba	5.5
5	Peru	5.6
6	Trinidad and Tobago	5.9
7	Algeria	6
8	Albania	6.3
8	Turkmenistan	6.4
10	El Salvador	6.5
10	Malaysia	6.5
10	Morocco	6.5
13	Colombia	6.7
14	South Africa	6.9
15	China	7.1
16	Fiji	7.3
17	Suriname	7.5
18	Gabon	7.6
19	Venezuela	7.7
20	Paraguay	7.9
21	Guyana	8.6
22	Panama	8.9
23	Thailand	9.9
24	Armenia	10.2
25	Azerbaijan	10.4
26	Uzbekistan	11.2
27	Indonesia	11.3
28	Honduras	11.4
29	Bolivia	11.7
30	Dominican Republic	12
31	Mongolia	12.1
32	Vietnam	12.6
33	Nicaragua	12.8
34	Ghana	13.9
35	Philippines	14
36	Lesotho	14.3
37	Namibia	14.3
38	Guatemala	14.6
39	Myanmar	15
40	Sri Lanka	15
41	Benin	15.1
42	Côte d'Ivoire	15.3
43	Senegal	15.4
44	Uganda	17.1
45	Gambia	17.3
46	Mauritania	17.6
47	Swaziland	17.7
48	Botswana	17.9
49	Togo	18.2
50	Nigeria	18.4
51	Timor-Leste	18.4
52	Cameroon	18.7
53	North Korea	18.8
54	Congo, Rep	19.1
55	Kenya	19.9
56	Sudan	20.5
57	Lao PDR	20.6
58	Nepal	20.6
59	Djibouti	20.9
59	Guinea	20.9
61	Pakistan	21.7
62	Malawi	21.8
63	Rwanda	22.3
64	Cambodia	23.2
65	Burkina Faso	23.5
66	India	23.7
67	Zimbabwe	23.8
68	Tanzania	24.2
69	Haiti	24.3
70	Bangladesh	25.2
71	Tajikistan	25.9
72	Mozambique	26.3
73	Mali	26.9
74	Guinea-Bissau	27.5
75	Central African Republic	28
76	Madagascar	28.8
77	Comoros	29.1
78	Zambia	29.2
79	Angola	29.5
80	Yemen, Rep.	29.8
81	Chad	29.9
82	Ethiopia	31
83	Liberia	31.8
84	Sierra Leone	32.2
85	Niger	32.4
86	Burundi	38.3
87	Eritrea	39
88	Congo, Dem. Rep.	42.7