Why the Global Hunger Index is statistical garbage

India has little hunger but substantial child malnutrition. That simple truth is obfuscated by the Global Hunger Index (GHI), prepared by European NGOs, showing India falling from 101st to 107th of 123 countries in 2022, among the hungriest.

- SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR

This cannot be true since 75% of rural and 50% of urban families get 35 kg of grain per month at just Rs 2-3/kg. Tamil Nadu gives 35 kg of rice free. No country does better.

GHI does not measure hunger, yet calls itself a hunger index to sensationalise matters. This makes headlines but is statistical garbage.

Instead of asking people if they are hungry, the GHI uses four other measures. Three concern child malnutrition — stunting, wasting, and under-five mortality. The fourth is food security, derived from FAO estimates that ignore India’s free feeding scheme after Covid.

An index that mainly measures the condition of under-5 children is simply not a measure of national hunger. Besides, two-thirds of child mortality relates to those dying in their first year. The cause would overwhelmingly be disease and neglect, not hunger. So why include this in a hunger index?

GHI may say most countries don’t publish data on hunger, so proxies (like stunting) are necessary. However, their proxies are highly misleading, as India’s hunger data shows.