From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Global Hunger Index

Tool that measures and tracks hunger

Summary

Tool that measures and tracks hunger

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool used to measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and national levels. The report, published annually in October, describes the prevalence of hunger and undernutrition in individual countries and gauges both progress and setbacks in the global fight against hunger. GHI scores can be used to rank countries, and current results can be compared with past outcomes. An interactive map] enables users to visualize data across different years and zoom into specific regions or countries.

The index was originally developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in cooperation with Welthungerhilfe, a German aid organization, and was first published in 2006. In 2007, the Irish non-governmental organization (NGO) Concern Worldwide joined as a co-publisher. In 2018, IFPRI handed the project over to its longstanding partners Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, who have continued the GHI as a joint initiative ever since. In 2024, the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) joined the project as an academic partner.

The Global Hunger Index 2025 marks the anniversary by taking stock of two decades of evidence-based recommendations: moving from productivity-focused agriculture toward rights-based, inclusive, and resilience-oriented approaches. Priorities include, among others, stronger governance and accountability; climate-adapted and transformed food systems; equal opportunities; support for rural livelihoods; cross-sectoral strategies; and coordinated, responsible development finance. It underscores the importance of reliable data, anticipatory risk management, and local empowerment, especially of women and marginalized groups.

In previous years, topics included:

2010: Early childhood undernutrition among children younger than the age of two.
2011: Rising and more volatile food prices of the recent years and the effects these changes have on hunger and malnutrition.
2012: Achieving food security and sustainable use of natural resources, when the natural sources of food become increasingly scarce.
2013: Strengthening community resilience against undernutrition and malnutrition.
2014: Hidden hunger, a form of undernutrition characterized by micronutrient deficiencies.
2015: Armed conflict and its relation to hunger.
2016: Reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030.
2017: The challenges of inequality and hunger.
2018: Forced migration and hunger.
2019: Climate change and hunger.
2020: One decade to Zero Hunger: Linking health and sustainable food systems".
2021: Hunger and Food Systems in Conflict Settings.
2022: Food Systems Transformation and Local Governance.
2023: The Power of Youth in Shaping Food Systems.
2024: How Gender Justice can advance Climate Resilience and Zero Hunger
2025: 20 Years of tracking Progress: Time to recommit to Zero Hunger Welthungerhilfe (WHH), Concern Worldwide, and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV). 2025.|https://www.globalhungerindex.org/pdf/en/2025.pdf | 2025 Global Hunger Index: 20 years of tracking progress: Time to recommit to zero hunger]. Bonn/Berlin: WHH; Dublin: Concern Worldwide; Bochum: IFHV

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.

An interactive map allows users to visualize the data for different years and zoom into specific regions or countries.

Calculation of GHI scores

Level	Value
Low	≤ 9.9
Moderate	10.0-19.9
Serious	20.0-34.9
Alarming	35.0-49.9
Extremely alarming	≥ 50.0

Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country's GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.

The GHI combines 4 component indicators:

Undernourishment: the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.
Child stunting: the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
Child wasting: the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.
Child mortality: the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.

In 2025, data were assessed for the 136 countries that met the criteria for inclusion in the GHI, and GHI scores were calculated for 123 of those countries based on data from 2000 to 2024. The data used to calculate GHI scores come from published United Nations sources (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation), the World Bank, and Demographic and Health Surveys.

For 13 countries, individual scores could not be calculated and ranks could not be determined owing to a lack of data. Seven countries were provisionally designated by severity based on other published data. For the remaining 6 countries, data were insufficient to allow for either calculating GHI scores or assigning provisional categories.

Regional and National Trends in Hunger

The 2025 GHI report finds that hunger is most severe in the regions of Africa South of the Sahara and South Asia, where hunger remains serious. Africa South of the Sahara’s high GHI score is driven by the highest undernourishment and child mortality rates of any region by far. In South Asia, serious hunger is driven by rising undernourishment and persistently high child undernutrition.

Hunger is designated as moderate in West Asia and North Africa, though food crises are occurring in Gaza and Yemen. Hunger is categorized as low in Latin America and the Caribbean, East and Southeast Asia, and Europe and Central Asia.

According to the 2025 GHI scores and provisional designations, hunger is considered alarming in 6 countries (Burundi, Chad, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen) and serious in 36 countries. Many countries are slipping backward: in 27 countries with low, moderate, serious, or alarming 2025 GHI scores, hunger has actually increased since 2016. In 10 countries with moderate, serious, or alarming 2025 GHI scores, progress has largely stalled and their 2025 GHI scores have declined by less than 5 percent from their 2016 GHI scores.

A small number of countries—including Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Togo and Uganda—have made significant improvements in their GHI scores, even if hunger in these countries remains too high.

Country rankings

Country rankings as per the Global Hunger Index.

Legend

Rank in 2025	data-sort-type=text	Country
since 2016	data-sort-type=text	Percent change
since 2016
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
1-25
26
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
34
34
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
43
45
46
47
48
49
50
50
52
53
54
55
55
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
63
65
66
66
68
69
70
70
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
80
82
83
84
85
86
*
*
87
88
88
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
103
103
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
*
*
*
119
120
121
121
123
*
For the 2025 GHI report, data were assessed for the countries available in the 2025 ranking sheet. If "—" sign is shown, data are not available or not presented. Some countries did not exist in their present borders in the given year or reference period.

References

Literature

2024 – Gender Justice, Climate Resilience and Food and Nutrition Security
2023 – The Power of Youth in Shaping Food Systems
2022 – Food Systems Transformation and Local Governance
2021 – Hunger and Food Systems in Conflict Settings
2020 – One Decade to Zero Hunger - Linking Health and Sustainable Food Systems
2019 – The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change
2018 – Forced Migration and Hunger
2017 – The Inequalities of Hunger
2016 – Getting to Zero Hunger
2015 – Armed Conflict and the Challenge of Hunger
2014 – The Challenge of Hidden Hunger
2013 – The Challenge of Hunger: Building Resilience to achieve Food and Nutrition Security
2012 – The Challenge of Hunger: Ensuring Sustainable Food Security Under Land, Water, and Energy Stresses
2011 – The Challenge of Hunger: Taming Price Spikes and Excessive Food Price Volatility
2010 – The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on the Crisis of Child Undernutrition
2009 – The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on Financial Crisis and Gender Inequality
2008 – The Challenge of Hunger 2008
2007 – The Challenge of Hunger 2007
2006 – The Challenge of Hunger 2006

References

von Grebmer, K.; Ruel, M.; Menon, P.; Nesorova, B.; Olofinbiyi, T.; Fritschel, H.; Yohannes, Y.; von Oppeln, C.; Towey, O.; Golden, K.; Thompson, J.. (2010). "2010 Global Hunger Index - ''The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on the Crisis of Child Undernutrition''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Torero, M.; Olofinbiyi, T.; Fritschel, H.; Wiesmann, D.; Yohannes, Y.; Schofield, L.; von Oppeln, C.. "2011 Global Hunger Index - ''The Challenge of Hunger: Taming Price Spikes and Excessive Food Price Volatility''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Ringler, C.; Rosegrant, M.; Olofinbiyi, T.; Fritschel, H.; Badiane, O.; Torero, M.; Yohannes, Y.; Thompson, J.; von Oppeln, C.; Rahall, J.. (2012). "2012 Global Hunger Index - ''The Challenge of Hunger: Ensuring Sustainable Food Security Under Land, Water, and Energy Stresses''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Headey, D.; Béné, C.; Haddad, L.; Olofi nbiyi, T.; Wiesmann, D.; Fritschel, H.; Yin, S.; Yohannes, Y.; Foley, C.; von Oppeln, C.; Iseli, B.. (2013). "2013 Global Hunger Index – ''The Challenge of Hunger: Building Resilience to achieve Food and Nutrition Security''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Saltzman, A.; Birol, E.; Wiesmann, D.; Prasai, N.; Yin, S.; Yohannes, Y.; Menon, P.; Thompson, J.; Sonntag, A.. (2014). "2014 Global Hunger Index – ''The Challenge of Hidden Hunger''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; de Waal, A.; Prasai, N.; Yin, S.; Yohannes, Y.. (2015). "2015 Global Hunger Index – ''Armed Conflict and the Challenge of Hunger''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; Nabarro, D.; Prasai, N.; Amin, S.; Yohannes, Y.; Sonntag, A.; Patterson, F.; Towey, O.; Thompson, J.. (2016). "2016 Global Hunger Index – ''Getting to Zero Hunge''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; Hossain, N.; Brown, T.; Prasai, N.; Yohannes, Y.; Patterson, F.; Sonntag, A.; Zimmermann, S.-M.; Towey, O.; Foley, C.. (2017). "2017 Global Hunger Index – ''The Inequalities of Hunger''". [[International Food Policy Research Institute.
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; Hammond, L.; Patterson, F.; Sonntag, A.; Klaus, L.; Fahlbusch, J.; Towey, O.; Foley, C.; Gitter, S.; Ekstrom, K.; Fritschel, H.. (2018). "2018 Global Hunger Index – ''Forced Migration and Hunger''". [[Welthungerhilfe]] and [[Concern Worldwide]].
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; Mukerji, R.; Patterson, F.; Wiemers, M.; Ní Chéilleachair, R.; Foley, C.; Gitter, S.; Ekstrom, K.; Fritschel, H.. (2019). "2019 Global Hunger Index – ''The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change''". [[Welthungerhilfe]] and [[Concern Worldwide]].
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; Alders, R.; Dar, O.; Kock, R.; Rampa, F.; Wiemers, M.; Acheampong, K.; Hanano, A.; Higgins, B.; Ní Chéilleachair, R.; Foley, C.; Gitter, S.; Ekstrom, K.; Fritschel, H.. (2020). "2020 Global Hunger Index – ''One Decade to Zero Hunger - Linking Health and Sustainable Food Systems''". [[Welthungerhilfe]] and [[Concern Worldwide]].
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; Delgado, C.; Smith, D.; Wiemers, M.; Schiffer, T.; Hanano, A.; Towey, O.; Ní Chéilleachair, R.; Foley, C.; Gitter, S.; Ekstrom, K.; Fritschel, H.. (2021). "2021 Global Hunger Index – ''Hunger and Food Systems in Conflict Settings''". [[Welthungerhilfe]] and [[Concern Worldwide]].
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein, J.; Resnick, D.; Wiemers, M.; Reiner, L.; Bachmeier, M.; Hanano, A.; Towey, O.; Ní Chéilleachair, R.; Foley, C.; Gitter, S.; Larocque, G.; Fritschel, H.. (2022). "2022 Global Hunger Index – ''Food Systems Transformation and Local Governance''". [[Welthungerhilfe]] and [[Concern Worldwide]].
von Grebmer, K.; Bernstein J.; Geza, W.; Ndlovu, M.; Wiemers, M.; Reiner, L.; Bachmeier, M.; Hanano, A.; Ní Chéilleachair, R.; Sheehan, T.; Foley, C.; Gitter, S.; Larocque, G.; Fritschel, H.. (2023). "2023 Global Hunger Index - ''The Power of Youth in Shaping Food Systems''". [[Welthungerhilfe]] & [[Concern Worldwide]].
Menon, Purnima; Deolalikar, Anil; Bhaskar, Anjor. (2009). "India State Hunger Index: Comparisons of Hunger across States".
Schmidt, Emily; Dorosh, Paul. (2009). "A Sub-National Hunger Index for Ethiopia: Assessing Progress in Region-Level Outcomes".
[[Concern Worldwide]] & [[Welthungerhilfe]]. "Methodology".
United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). "Under-five Mortality Estimates".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

development-studies famines food-politics international-rankings social-statistics-data malnutrition hunger-relief measurements-and-definitions-of-poverty

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Global Hunger Index — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report