Hunger Index for India

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The India State Hunger Index (India State Hunger Index / ISHI) is an instrument for the calculation of hunger and malnutrition at the regional level. It uses the same indicators as the Global Hunger Index (GHI) and was calculated for a total of 17 Indian states.

The ISHI was developed by the International Institute for Food Policy (IFPRI) and presented for the first time in 2008 in New Delhi in cooperation with the non-governmental organization Welthungerhilfe and the University of California's Economic Institute .

background

Despite very good economic development, India has the most hungry people in the world with more than 200 million people. In the global ranking of the GHI 2008 India ranks 66 out of 88 classified countries with 23.7 points (“very serious”). The main problem in the South Asian country is primarily underweight children under the age of five, which is largely due to the poor nutritional and educational status of Indian women.

In order to fight hunger in the long term, it is necessary not only to discuss the topic at national level, but above all to focus more on the regionally specific problem constellations. The Hunger Index for India is an important tool for identifying the manifestations of hunger at the state level and for creating awareness of the underlying reasons in political discussions. Food security measures can thus be used in a more targeted manner in the long term.

Indicators and data sources

The ISHI uses the same equivalent indicators as the Global Hunger Index :

  1. The percentage of undernourished people in a country's population (indicator for the percentage of people who cannot meet their calorie needs).
  2. The proportion of children under five years of age who are underweight (indicator of the proportion of children who suffer from weight loss and / or insufficient growth).
  3. The mortality rate of children under five years of age (an indicator that partly reflects the fatal combination of a lack of nutrients and a poor health environment).

He uses two country-specific data sources: the database of the Indian National Family Health Survey (2005–2006) and the National Sample Survey (2004–2005). The hunger index for India was calculated for a total of 17 states in which 95 percent of the population live. The National Family Health Survey has a very large database and also has representative estimates of the underweight of children and their under-five mortality rates for smaller states. The National Sample Survey, on the other hand, has insufficient estimates of the proportion of malnourished in the smaller states of India. The ISHI therefore restricts its calculations to those countries in which precise estimates are available from both databases.

The main results

  • The ISHI 2008 ranges between the values ​​13.6 (“serious”) for Punjab and 30.9 (“serious” / “extremely alarming”) for Madhya Pradesh , although there are very strong fluctuations within the country. If one places the states in the global ranking of the GHI 2008, Punjab ranks 34th (between Nicaragua and Ghana ) and Madhya Pradesh ranks 82nd (between Chad and Ethiopia ). In this state, more than 60 percent of children are malnourished.
  • Twelve of the 17 states examined are in the “very serious” (“alarming”) category. A state has an “extremely alarming” hunger situation.
  • The values ​​of the ISHI correlate very strongly with poverty rates but hardly with economic growth in the respective states. Strong hunger problems can also be found in countries that are developing very well economically.
  • More equitable economic growth and more targeted food security measures to improve the nutritional situation of children and reduce child mortality are necessary to improve the situation in all states of India.

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