Poor Global Hunger Index Rating: India Questions ‘Erroneous’ Methodology

New Delhi: The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report shows India in poor light, having slipped from 101st to 107th position, out of 121 countries.

The Central government, however, questioned the rating, saying that it was an “erroneous measure of hunger” and “suffers from serious methodological issues.”

“Three out of four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to health of children and cannot be representative of the entire population. The fourth and most important indicator estimate of Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3,000. The report is not only disconnected from ground reality, but also chooses to deliberately ignore efforts made by the government to ensure food security for the population, especially during the COVID pandemic,” the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said in a press release.

The latest rating has placed India even behind Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

“Taking a one-dimensional view, the report lowers India’s rank based on the estimate of Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population for India at 16.3%. The matter was taken up with FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation) not to use such estimates based on FIES (Food Insecurity Experience Scale) survey module data in July 2022, as the statistical output of the same will not be based on merit. Though an assurance was forthcoming that there will be further engagement on this issue, the publication of the Global Hunger Index report irrespective of such factual considerations is regrettable,” the ministry stated.

“Some of the questions asked to the respondents are: ‘During the last 12 months, was there a time when, because of lack of money or other resources, you were worried you would not have enough food to eat? You ate less than you thought you should’? It is evident such questions do not search for facts based on relevant information about the delivery of nutritional support and assurance of food security,” the ministry pointed out, observing that calculating hunger based mainly on indicators relating to health of children is “neither scientific nor rational.”