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| Global Hunger Index | |
|---|---|
| Name | Global Hunger Index |
| Established | 2006 |
| Publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute; Concern Worldwide; Welthungerhilfe |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Subject | Hunger; Malnutrition; Food security |
Global Hunger Index The Global Hunger Index is an annual measure that compares hunger levels across countries and regions, produced by international organizations including the International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe. It synthesizes indicators related to undernutrition and child mortality to create a single score used by policymakers, researchers, and institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank, and World Health Organization to assess progress and shape interventions. Prominent actors like the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Monetary Fund, and humanitarian NGOs cite the Index in reports, briefings, and advocacy campaigns addressing crises in places like Yemen, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Venezuela.
The Index aggregates country-level data to produce a comparative hunger score that informs debates involving actors such as the United Nations Children's Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, European Commission, United States Agency for International Development, and regional bodies like the African Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is referenced alongside instruments like the Sustainable Development Goals and metrics used by the Global Nutrition Report, Lancet, Oxford University, Harvard University, and think tanks including the Brookings Institution and Chatham House. Reports link Index outcomes to crises triggered by events such as the Syrian civil war, COVID-19 pandemic, and 2010 Haiti earthquake, while comparative studies involve datasets from institutions like the Demographic and Health Surveys and the World Bank's World Development Indicators.
The methodology combines indicators on undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality drawing from sources like the Food and Agriculture Organization's food balance sheets, the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, and national surveys such as the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and Demographic and Health Surveys. Statistical techniques referenced include approaches used by the World Health Organization and modeling frameworks from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and United Nations University. The Index's weighting and normalization procedures echo methods in reports by the OECD, International Food Policy Research Institute, and academic journals such as The Lancet Global Health and Nature.
Conceived in the mid-2000s, the Index was launched in collaboration among Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe, and International Food Policy Research Institute to respond to global discussions at forums like the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals reviews. Subsequent editions evolved in the context of debates involving the Sustainable Development Goals, the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, and research from universities such as Cornell University, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Major global shocks—namely the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, the 2014–2016 West African Ebola epidemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic—shaped revisions and prompted collaboration with entities like the Global Nutrition Report and the United Nations Secretary-General's initiatives.
Analyses of Index results highlight regional patterns across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. Trends are compared alongside indicators used by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank to examine the impacts of shocks such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022), El Niño, and the Sahel droughts. Researchers from institutions like University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, Johns Hopkins University, and McKinsey & Company use Index data to model trajectories and policy responses in regions including Horn of Africa, Maghreb, and Andean states.
Scholars and agencies such as Amartya Sen's critics, researchers at World Bank, and commentators in journals like Nature and The Lancet have questioned aspects of the Index's indicator selection, weighting, and sensitivity to data quality from national statistical offices and surveys like DHS and MICS. Debates reference methodological critiques from academics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Princeton University, and policy analysts at Overseas Development Institute and Center for Global Development about cross-country comparability, temporality, and exclusion of adult micronutrient deficiencies. NGOs including Oxfam, Save the Children, and Médecins Sans Frontières have argued for complementary metrics tied to resilience frameworks advocated by the United Nations Development Programme and Global Food Security Index.
The Index has influenced policy dialogues in venues such as the United Nations General Assembly, Food Systems Summit, G20, and World Economic Forum, shaping programs funded by agencies like USAID, DFID (now Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office), and multilateral development banks. Its scores inform humanitarian prioritization by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, donor strategies at European Union External Action Service, and national plans in countries including India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Nigeria, and Indonesia. Academic collaborations with Columbia University, Yale School of Public Health, and Imperial College London leverage the Index for impact evaluations and policy briefs used by ministries such as Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (India) and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare (India).
Country rankings highlight extreme scores in states like South Sudan, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Yemen, and improvements in countries such as Brazil, China, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh. Case studies often connect Index findings to interventions by organizations like World Food Programme, UNICEF, CARE International, and national initiatives in Rwanda, Ghana, Philippines, and Vietnam. Comparative analyses cite research from institutions including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, London School of Economics, Australian National University, and policy notes from International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps that examine drivers and responses at the country level.
Category:Hunger indices