Bangladesh’s position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) has dropped by three places in 2024, indicating a worsening food security situation in the country.
This year, Bangladesh is ranked 84th out of 127 countries in the Global Hunger Index, with a score of 19.4, reflecting a decline of three places from last year’s position of 81st.
Despite this drop, the latest index shows that Bangladesh stands out as one of the few countries that have made significant progress in addressing hunger since 2016, when its score was 24.7 and 19 last year.
‘In contrast to the global trend, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Nepal, Somalia, and Togo have reduced their GHI scores by more than 5 points compared with their 2016 scores,’ said the global report released on Friday.
Nevertheless, hunger remains a serious concern and is described as ‘too high’ in Bangladesh. The level of hunger in the country this year has been categorised as ‘moderate.’
The report outlined that each country’s GHI score was derived from a formula that incorporates four indicators: undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality.
Scores were measured on a 100-point scale, where 0 signifies the best possible outcome (indicating no hunger) and 100 represents the most severe situation.
Each GHI score was then classified according to severity, ranging from low to extremely alarming.
The latest index showed that 11.9 per cent of Bangladesh’s population was undernourished, with 2.9 per cent of children not surviving past their fifth birthday.
Furthermore, 23.6 per cent of children under five in Bangladesh experienced stunting, while 11 per cent were affected by wasting (being too thin for their height).
In comparison, other South Asian countries rank as follows: Sri Lanka is 56th, Nepal 68th, India 105th, and Pakistan 109th in the latest index.
Hunger remains a pressing concern in South Asia, characterised by rising undernourishment and persistently high rates of child undernutrition, driven by poor diet quality, economic challenges, and the growing impact of natural disasters.
With 281 million undernourished individuals, South Asia accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the global total and has the highest child wasting rate among all regions in the GHI.
The report indicates that hunger is considered serious or alarming in 42 countries, with many nations continuing to experience levels of hunger that are excessively high.
The 2024 GHI scores and provisional classifications reveal that hunger is deemed alarming in six countries: Burundi, Chad, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.
In an additional 36 countries, hunger is classified as serious. Furthermore, many countries are facing setbacks; in 22 countries with moderate, serious, or alarming 2024 GHI scores, hunger has increased since 2016.
In 20 countries with similar scores, progress has largely stagnated, as their 2024 GHI scores have declined by less than 5 per cent compared to 2016.
This year, 22 countries with GHI scores below 5 are not assigned individual ranks but are collectively listed as 1-22 due to minimal differences between their scores. The top five countries in the index are Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, China, and Costa Rica.
The GHI is a peer-reviewed annual report, jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, aimed at comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and country levels.
Its purpose is to galvanise action to reduce hunger worldwide.