The
Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for calculating
hungerHunger is a feeling experienced when one has a desire to eat. Satiety is the absence of hunger. The often unpleasant feeling of hunger originates from the hypothalamus releasing hormones that target receptors in the liver...
and
malnutritionMalnutrition is the insufficient, excessive or imbalanced consumption of nutrients.A number of different nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under or overabundant in the diet....
. Developed by the
International Food Policy Research InstituteThe International Food Policy Research Institute was founded in 1975 to develop policy solutions for meeting the food needs of the developing world in a sustainable way. IFPRI receives its principal funding from governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations, under...
(IFPRI), it was presented for the first time in 2006 in conjunction with the Non-Governmental Organisations Welthungerhilfe and
Concern WorldwideConcern , is a charitable organisation focused on providing emergency humanitarian aid and development aid to combat extreme poverty primarily in developing countries....
.
The GHI supports the measurement of progress and failures in the global fight against hunger, thereby facilitating more effective monitoring of the
Millennium Development GoalsThe Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
.
In 2008 the GHI was established for 120
developing countriesDeveloping country is a term generally used to describe a nation with a low level of material well being. There is no single internationally-recognized definition of developed country, and the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries, with some developing...
and newly industrialized countries, 88 of which were ranked. For the first time the Hunger
Index for the States of IndiaThe India State Hunger Index is a tool to calculate hunger and malnutrition at the regional level in India. It is constructed in the same fashion as the Global Hunger Index 2008 and was calculated for 17 states in India, covering more than 95 percent of the population.The ISHI was developed by...
(ISHI) was also calculated.
Concept
Hunger has many faces: increased susceptibility to disease, shortfalls in nutritional status, loss of energy, disability, and death due to starvation or infectious diseases whose lethal course is the result of weakened general health. At the national level, interactions between economic development, technology, policy, culture, ecological factors and the availability of natural resources are crucial. These factors influence households and communities in terms of food availability, basic education and knowledge, caring capacity for children, old people, and the sick, and the general health environment. Shortfalls in these areas can rapidly push individuals into a vicious cycle of insufficient dietary intake, weight loss, a weakened immune system, and infections accompanied by loss of appetite and energy-consuming fever.
The GHI is designed to capture several dimensions of hunger and undernutrition. They include: insufficient food availability (as compared to requirements), shortfalls in nutritional status, and deaths that are directly or indirectly attributable to undernutrition. This definition goes beyond insufficient dietary energy availability at the household level, which is the focus of the FAO measure of undernourishment. Sufficient dietary energy availability at the household level does not mean that all individual household members benefit equally. Nor does it guarantee that small children will be fed food that is adequate for their age or that sick family members are able to biologically utilize the available food. The Global Hunger Index is therefore based on a three-dimensional definition which encompasses the outcomes of insufficient quantity, quality or
safety of foodFood safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as...
as well as the consequences of a failure to utilize
nutrientA nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. Nutrients are the substances that enrich the body. They build and repair tissues, give heat and energy, and regulate body processes...
s biologically.
The combination of the proportion of the undernourished in the entire population with the two indicators relating to children under five ensures that both the food supply of the entire population and the effects of inadequte nutrition on a physiologically vulnerable group are captured. Children's nutritional status is of particular importance because nutritional deficiencies put them at high risk of physical and/or mental impairment and mortality. For many children in developing countries who die from infectious diseases, the indirect cause of death is a weakened immune system due to lack of dietary energy,
vitaminA vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. The term 'vitamin' first became popular in the early 1800's as a contraction of the words 'vital' and 'mineral', though the actual meaning of the word has developed somewhat since that time...
s and
mineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. A rock, by comparison, is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, and need not have a specific...
s. Because the first two indicators - the proportion of undernourished and the prevalence of
underweightThe term underweight refers to a human who is considered to be under a healthy weight. The definition is usually made with reference to the body mass index . A BMI of under 18.5 is usually referred to as underweight...
children - do not reveal premature death as the most tragic consequence of hunger, the child mortality rate is also included.
Indicators
The GHI is a multidimensional approach to measuring hunger and
malnutritionMalnutrition is the insufficient, excessive or imbalanced consumption of nutrients.A number of different nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under or overabundant in the diet....
. It combines three equally-weighted indicators:
1. the proportion of undernourished as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient dietary intake);
2. the prevalence of
underweightThe term underweight refers to a human who is considered to be under a healthy weight. The definition is usually made with reference to the body mass index . A BMI of under 18.5 is usually referred to as underweight...
children under the age of five (indicating the proportion of children suffering from weight loss and / or reduced growth); and
3. the
mortality rate of childrenAbout 20 million children die every year , very often from preventable causes. Estimates vary depending on the age limit definition of still being a child. Child mortality in this article refers to under-5 mortality, which is the death of infants and children under the age of five...
under the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy between dietary intake and unhealthy environments).
This multidimensional approach to calculating the GHI offers several advantages. It captures various aspects of hunger and undernutrition in one index number, thereby presenting a quick overview of a complex issue. It takes account of the nutrition situation not only of the population as a whole, but also of a physiologically vulnerable group – children- for whom lack of nutrients creates a high risk of illness and death. Finally, by combining indicators that have been measured independently, it reduces the effects of random measurement errors.
Calculation of the GHI
GHI: (PUN + CUW + CM) / 3
PUN = proportion of the population that is undernourished (in %)
CUW = prevalence of underweight children under five (in %)
CM = proportion of children dying before the age of five (in %)
The index ranks countries on a 100 point scale, with 0 being the best score ("no hunger") and 100 being the worst, though neither of these extremes is achieved in practice. Values less than 4.9 reflect "low hunger", values between 5 and 9.9 reflect "moderate hunger", values between 10 and 19.9 indicate a "serious", values between 20 and 29.9 are "alarming", and values exceeding 30 are "extremely alarming" hunger problem.
Sources of data
Data for the GHI are from 2001 to 2006. Specifically, the data on the proportion of undernourished are for 2002-2004 (FAO), data on child mortality are for 2006 (Unicef); and data on child nutrition are for the latest year of the period 2001-2006 (
WHO*Who is an English language interrogative pronoun.-In fiction:*Who? , a 1958 novel by science fiction author Algis Budrys, turned into a film with the same title in 1973*Doctor Who, a British science fiction television series...
) for which data are available
The Child Growth Standards used for the calculation of child malnutrition by the WHO were revised in 2006. The prevalence of underweight for the 1990 GHI has also been recalculated to reflect the newly introduced WHO reference standards. Consequently, the 2008 GHI values and revised 1990 values are not directly comparable to previously calculated GHI values.
Ranking
The Global Hunder Index 2008 was calculated for 120 developing countries and countries in transition. Altogether 88 countries were ranked and the
food securityFood security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
situation was compared to 1990. The remaining countries had a GHI of under 5 (“low hunger”) and were therefore not taken into account in the ranking.
Global and regional trends
At a global level, the GHI shows some improvement over the 1990 GHI, falling nearly one fifth from 18.7 to 15.2. The improvement was driven to a large extent by progress in child nutrition. Regardless, the global fight against hunger is stagnating and not reaching its goals fast enough. The GHI level in the world as a whole remains serious.
The global averages hide dramatic differences among regions and countries. 33 countries have an alarming (20-29.9) or extremely alarming (≥ 30) hunger situation. In
Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
the GHI decreased by less than 11 percent between 1990 and 2008, whereas the GHI decreased by 25 percent in
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
, the
near EastNear East today is an ambiguous term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
and
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
. Progress in
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
was even greater, with the GHI decreasing by almost 40 percent, albeit from an already low level.
Sub-Saharan Africa and
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
share the highest regional GHI scores (23.3 and 23.0 respectively), but food insecurity in the two regions stems from different sources. In South Asia, the major problem is a high prevalence of underweight children under five, which is a result of lower nutrition and educational status of women. In contrast, the high GHI in Sub-Saharan Africa is due to high child mortality rates and the high proportion of people who cannot meet their calorie requirements. Low government effectiveness, conflict, political instability, and high rates of
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid,...
/
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
have driven these two indicators.
Winners and losers
From the 1990 GHI to the 2008 GHI only a handful of countries made significant progress by reducing their GHI scores by half or more. At the same time, about one third of the countries made modest progress by reducing their GHI scores between 25 and 50 percent.
GhanaThe Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa which borders Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
was the only country in Sub-Sahara Africa that cut its GHI by more than 40 percent and no country in the region is among the 10 best performers in improving the GHI since 1990.
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
displayed seemingly remarkable progress in reducing hunger, but this is mainly due to its unusually high level in 1990, when
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
had invaded the country. Strong agricultural growth and reducing inflation has contributed to the rapid progress of the second-best performer -
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
.
While it is laudable that some countries were able to cut their GHI by more than half, the absolute progress in moving toward such a goal is also noteworthy. Between 1990 and 2008,
AngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the...
,
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
,
GhanaThe Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa which borders Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
,
HaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago...
,
MalawiThe Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast and Mozambique, which surrounds it on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by...
,
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. It was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
, and
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
saw the largest decreases- by more than 10 points - in their GHI scores. In 11 countries (all in Sub-Sahara Africa, except
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
), the GHI increased. Conflict and political instability in
BurundiBurundi , officially the Republic of Burundi, is a country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of...
,
ComorosThe Comoros , officially the Union of the Comoros is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique...
, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau, and
LiberiaLiberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2008 Census, the nation is home to 3,476,608 people and covers ....
have widened hunger. In
BotswanaThe Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are called "Batswana" , regardless of ethnicity. Formerly a British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
and
SwazilandThe Kingdom of Swaziland , sometimes called Ngwane, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south, and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The nation, as well as its people, are named after the 19th century king Mswati II.Swaziland is a small country, no...
, the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, coupled with high inequality, have severely undermined food security despite greater national wealth. Negative trends in economic growth and food production in
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
have led to higher rates of undernourished and underweight children.
Conflicts exacerbate hunger
The countries with the most worrisome hunger status and the highest 2008 GHI scores are predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo,
EritreaEritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen...
,
BurundiBurundi , officially the Republic of Burundi, is a country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of...
,
NigerNiger , officially the Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, and
Sierra LeoneSierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea in the north, Liberia in the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has a population estimated at 6.4 million...
at the bottom of the list. War and violence have been the major causes of widespread poverty and food insecurity in most of the countries with high GHI scores. Another common pattern is the lack of general freedom in terms of political rights and civil liberties. All 15 countries with the highest GHI scores have been consistently rated by the
Freedom House IndexFreedom House is a Washington-based international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
as non-free or partially free in the period 2006-2008.
EritreaEritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen...
and The Democratic Republic of Congo currently have by far the highest proportion of undernourished – 75 and 74 percent of the population, respectively.
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
,
YemenYemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...
and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight children under five - more than 40 percent in all three countries.
Sierra LeoneSierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea in the north, Liberia in the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has a population estimated at 6.4 million...
and
AngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province of Cabinda has a border with the Republic of the...
have the highest mortality rates for children under 5 years of age- 27 and 26 percent, respectively.
Strengths and obstacles of the GHI
Strengths
- The GHI is a multi-dimensional approach and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of hunger.
- It provides a quick overview of a complex problem.
- Factors characterizing the specific food security situation in a country become visible.
- Progress and failures in the fight against poverty and hunger become apparent.
- The aggregation of information facilitates a rapid overview for important stakeholders.
Obstacles
- The GHI is limited by the collection of data by various governments and international agencies
An intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization comprised primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organization...
. The GHI 2008 incorporates data only until 2006 — the most recent available. Therefore, the report offers a picture of the past, not the present. The report does not reflect the effects of recent increases in food and energy prices on hunger.
Outlook
Until 2008, rising oil prices,
climate changeClimate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average...
and the increased area under cultivation of crops for biofuels led to higher food prices. The price of wheat and vegetables has doubled since 2003 while prices for maize have tripled and prices for rice have quadrupled in the same time period. In this context, the prospects for improving food and nutrition security do not appear favorable, given that at least 800 million people were food insecure even before the food-price crisis hit. Higher food prices cut into poor households’ food budgets, with particularly serious risks for undernourished infants and children. High prices also reduce the amount of food aid that donors can supply with a given amount of funds.
The
financial crisisThe term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these...
has led to a price decrease of resources like oil which resulted in a lowering of food prices. The impact on worldwide hunger and poverty is not yet clear.
Literature
- Ifpri/Concern/Welthungerhilfe: 2009 Global Hunger Index − The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on Financial Crisis and Gender Inequality. Bonn, Washington D. C., Dublin. October 2009. (PDF-File, 2.7 MB)
- Ifpri/Concern/Welthungerhilfe: Global Hunger Index − The Challenge of Hunger 2008. Bonn, Washington D.C., Dublin. October 2008. (PDF-File, 4.5 MB)
- Ifpri/Concern/Welthungerhilfe: The Challenge of Hunger 2007 − Global Hunger Index: Facts, determinants, and trends 2007. Measures being taken to reduce acute undernourishment and chronic hunger. Bonn, October 2007. (PDF-File, 2.3 MB)
- Ifpri/Welthungerhilfe: The Challenge of Hunger − Global Hunger Index: Facts, determinants, and trends. Case studies of post conflict countries of Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. Bonn, October 2006. (PDF-File, 4.6 MB)
External links