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The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a multidimensional statistical tool used to describe the state of countries’ hunger situation. The GHI measures progress and failures in the global fight against hunger. The GHI is updated once a year.

The Index was adopted and further developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and was first published in 2006 with the Welthungerhilfe, a German non-profit organization (NGO). Since 2007, the Irish NGO Concern Worldwide joined the group as co-publisher.

The 2011 GHI was calculated for 122 developing countries and countries in transition, 81 of which were ranked. Every year, the GHI report focuses on a main topic: in 2010 the Index highlighted early childhood undernutrition among children younger than the age of two. The GHI 2011 focuses on the rising and more volatile food prices of recent years and the effects these changes have on hunger and malnutrition. The report concludes that price increases and price volatility reduce poor households’ spending on a range of essential goods and services and reduce the calories they consume. Poor people’s nutrition is also affected when they shift to cheaper, lower-quality, and less micronutrient-dense foods.

In addition to the yearly GHI, the Hunger Index for the States of India (ISHI) was published in 2008 and the Sub-National Hunger Index for Ethiopia was published in 2009.

Calculation of the Global Hunger Index


The Index ranks countries on a 100 point scale, with 0 being the best score ("no hunger") and 100 being the worst, though neither of these extremes is achieved in practice. The higher the score, the worse the food situation of a country. Values less than 4.9 reflect "low" hunger, values between 5 and 9.9 reflect "moderate" hunger, values between 10 and 19.9 indicate "serious" hunger, values between 20 and 29.9 are "alarming", and values exceeding 30 are "extremely alarming".

The GHI combines three equally weighted indicators: 1) the proportion of the undernourished as a percentage of the population; 2) the prevalence of underweight children under the age of five; and 3) the mortality rate of children under the age of five.

The data used for the 2011 GHI are for the period from 2004 to 2009 – the most recent available global data for the three components of the GHI. The data on the proportion of undernourished come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and IFPRI (estimates) are for 2005-2007. Data on underweight of children under 5 are based on data from 2004-2009 collected by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and MEASURE DHS and data on child mortality are for 2009 from UNICEF. The 2010 GHI, the recalculated base value of the 1990 GHI as well as the values of 1996 and 2001 are not directly comparable to previously calculated GHI values. The values reflect the latest revised data for the three components of the GHI and include estimates where original source data were not available, based on the most recent data available.

Global and regional trends
The 2011 GHI report shows how the hunger situation has developed since 1990 at global, regional, and national levels. Globally, the GHI fell by more than one fourth from 19.7 in 1990 to 14.6 in 2011. The global GHI 2010 had been 15.1. Regardless of this positive trend, the global fight against hunger is not reaching its goals fast enough. 29 countries still have an alarming (20-29.9) or extremely alarming (≥ 30) hunger situation. The global averages hide dramatic differences among regions and countries. The 2010 GHI had fallen by 18% in Sub-Saharan Africa compared with the 1990 GHI, by about 25% in South Asia, and by 39% in the Near East and North Africa. Progress in Southeast Asia and Latin America was especially great, with the GHI decreasing by over 44%. The GHI in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States has fallen by 47% since 1996.

Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia share the highest regional GHI scores (22.9 and 21.7 respectively), but food insecurity in the two regions stems from different reasons: In South Asia, the major problem is a high prevalence of underweight children under five, which is a result of lower nutrition and educational status of women. In contrast, the high GHI in Sub-Saharan Africa is due to high child mortality rates and the high proportion of people who cannot meet their calorie requirements because of bad governance, conflicts, political instability, and high HIV/AIDS rates.

The highest regional GHI score can be found in South Asia. After a rapid decrease between 1990 and 1996, scores in that region have not changed much despite economic growth over the same period. According to the report, progress is inhibited by social inequality and the low nutritional, educational, and social status of women. Slightly better numbers in Sub-Saharan Africa stem from the end of a several conflicts in in the 1990s and 2000s, economic growth, and successes in fighting AIDS.

Focus of the 2011 GHI: Rising and volatile food prices
The report cites 3 factors as the main reasons for high volatility, or price changes, and price spikes of food:
 * Use of the so-called biofuels, promoted by high oil prices, subsidies in the United States (over one third of the corn harvest of 2009 and 2010 respectively) and quota for biofuel in gasoline in the European Union, India and others.
 * Extreme weather events as a result of Climate Change
 * Future trading of agricultural commodities, for instance investments in funds that speculate on price changes of agricultural products (2003: 13 Bn US Dollar, 2008: 260 Bn US Dollar).

Volatility and prices increases are worsened according to the report by the concentration of staple food exports in a few countries and export restrictions of these goods, the historically low level of worldwide cereal reserves and the lack of timely information on food products, reserves, and price developments. This lack of information can lead to overreactions in the markets. Moreover, seasonal limitations on production possibilities, limited land for agricultural production, and limited access to fertilizers and water, as well as the increasing demand resulting from population growth, put pressure on food prices.

According to the Global Hunger Index 2011 price trends show especially harsh consequences for poor and undernourished people, because they are not capable of reacting to price spikes and price changes. Reactions, following these developments, can include reduced calorie intake, withdrawal of children from school, riskier income generation such as prostitution or criminality, and the sending away of household members, who cannot be fed anymore. In addition, the report sees an alltime high in the instability and unpredictability of food prices, which after decades of slight decrease, increasingly show price spikes (strong and short-term increase).

At a national level, food-importing countries (those with a negative food trade balance are especially affected by the changing prices.

Focus of the GHI 2010: Early childhood undernutrition
Undernutrition among children has reached terrible levels. About 195 million children under the age of five in the developing world – about one in three children - are too small and thus underdeveloped. Nearly one in four children under age five – 129 million – is underweight, and one in 10 is severely underweight. The problem of child undernutrition is concentrated in a few countries and regions, with more than 90 percent of stunted children living in Africa and Asia. 42% of the world’s undernourished children live in India alone.

The evidence presented in the report shows that the window of opportunity for improving nutrition spans is the 1,000 days between conception and a child’s second birthday (that is the period from -9 to +24 months). Children who do not receive adequate nutrition during this period have greater risk of experiencing lifelong damage, including poor physical and cognitive development, poor health, and even early death. The consequences of malnutrition that occurs after the first 24 months of a child's life are, by contrast, largely reversible.