The 2019 Global Hunger Index Report (2019 GHI)
The latest data available show that while we have made progress in reducing hunger on a global scale since 2000, we still have a long way to go.
Of the 117 countries with GHI scores, levels of hunger are still serious or alarming in 47 countries and extremely alarming in one country. This year’s report focuses on climate change—an increasingly relevant threat to the world’s hungry and vulnerable people that requires immediate action.
Formula
The GHI scores are based on a formula that captures three dimensions of hunger—insufficient caloric intake, child undernutrition, and child mortality—using four component indicators:
- UNDERNOURISHMENT: the share of the population that is undernourished, reflecting insufficient caloric intake
- CHILD WASTING: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (low weight-for-height), reflecting acute undernutrition
- CHILD STUNTING: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (low height-for-age), reflecting chronic undernutrition
- CHILD MORTALITY: the mortality rate of children under the age of five.
Data on these indicators come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the World Bank, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), and the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). The 2019 GHI is calculated for 117 countries for which data are available and reflects data from 2014 to 2018.
The GHI ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in actuality.
- Values less than 10.0 reflect low hunger
- values from 10.0 to 19.9 reflect moderate hunger
- values from 20.0 to 34.9 indicate serious hunger
- values from 35.0 to 49.9 are alarming
- and values of 50.0 or more are extremely alarming.
Nepal
Nepal ranks 73rd out of 117 qualifying countries with a score of 20.8. Nepal suffers from a level of hunger that is serious.
