Global Hunger Index (GHI)
GHI = Global Hunger Index- How often
- Each new editionOnce a year
- Last released
- 13 Oct 20262026
2026, up from 102 of 123 in 2025.
Events on this chart
Source: Welthungerhilfe, IFHV, Helvetas, released 13 Oct 2026 · Chart: Clarity UPSC
- Previous
- 102 of 1232025
- Highest
- 111 of 1252023
- Lowest
- 100 of 1222026
4 readings since 2023.
Story
India's rank on undernourishment, child wasting, stunting and child mortality.
What is happening now As of 2026
The 2026 Global Hunger Index (GHI), 'No Security Without Food Security', ranks India 100th of 122 countries with a score of 24.1, in the 'serious' category. The report says India's score has been serious since 2012 and mirrors a slowdown across South Asia: it eased only from 25.8 in 2018 to 24.1 in 2026, after a steep fall of 8.2 points between 2006 and 2012. The 2025 report ranked India 102nd of 123, but the publishers say scores are comparable only within each year's report, not between reports.
The report finds India's indicators pulling in opposite directions. Undernourishment improved to 9.8% of the population, and child stunting fell to 29.3%, moving from a 'very high' to a 'high' rate for the first time. Child wasting rose to 19.0%, the highest rate in South Asia, and has been very high at every reference year. Under-five mortality was 2.7%.
Why it matters
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) looks beyond calories. Its undernourishment indicator shows whether the whole population can get enough food. Its three child indicators show the harm that poor diets and unhealthy surroundings do to the most vulnerable: stunting reflects long-term (chronic) undernutrition, wasting reflects sudden (acute) undernutrition, and child deaths reflect in part the fatal mix of poor nutrition and unhealthy environments. The report cites research finding that undernutrition is responsible for 45% of deaths of children under five.
The publishers use the index to show where hunger is worst and whether the world is on course for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, which aims to end hunger, improve nutrition, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. For a country, the four indicators matter as much as the score, because each points to a different problem and a different remedy.
What it is
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores countries on hunger with four indicators: undernourishment (the share of people whose calorie intake is too low), child stunting (children under five who are too short for their age), child wasting (children under five who are too thin for their height) and child mortality (the share of children who die before their fifth birthday).
Undernourishment and child mortality carry one-third of the weight each; stunting and wasting carry one-sixth each. Three of the four indicators concern young children, so child nutrition and survival decide two-thirds of the score. The data come from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations for undernourishment; from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Demographic and Health Surveys for stunting and wasting; and from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation for child mortality.
Scores run from 0 (no hunger) to 100 (worst), so a lower score and a lower rank number are better. A score below 10 is 'low', 10–19.9 'moderate', 20–34.9 'serious', 35–49.9 'alarming' and 50 or more 'extremely alarming'.
Read this number
Terms on this page (7)
- FAO
- Food and Agriculture Organization
- IFHV
- Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict
- IFPRI
- International Food Policy Research Institute
- SDG
- Sustainable Development Goal
- UNICEF
- United Nations Children's Fund
- WHO
- World Health Organization
- ZEF
- Center for Development Research (Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung)
History
- 2000The index starts at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University, as the Global Nutrition Index.
- 2006After moving to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), it is renamed the Global Hunger Index (GHI), and the first GHI report is published.
- 2015Child stunting and wasting are added and the values standardised. Almost all countries get higher scores from then on because of the new method, and the severity scale is revised.
- 2025The 2025 report, marking 20 years of tracking progress, is published by Welthungerhilfe, Concern Worldwide and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV).
- 2026Helvetas joins Welthungerhilfe and IFHV as a publisher.
Readings
| Period | Value | Status | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 100 of 122 | Final | 13 Oct 2026 |
| 2025 | 102 of 123 | Final | 1 Oct 2025 |
| 2024 | 105 of 127 | Final | 1 Oct 2024 |
| 2023 | 111 of 125 | Final | 1 Oct 2023 |
For UPSC
Know the four indicators and their weights (undernourishment and child mortality one-third each; stunting and wasting one-sixth each) and the 0–100 scale, where lower is better. The publishers are European aid and research organisations led by Germany's Welthungerhilfe, not a United Nations agency; the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations supplies the undernourishment data.