TDS Desk:

Bangladesh’s position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) has fallen by three notches this year, pointing to the deteriorating food security situation in the country.

According to the 2024 index, Bangladesh scored 19.4, standing in 84th place among 127 countries ranked by the index. The level of hunger has been classified as “moderate.”

In 2023, Bangladesh scored 19 and gained 81st rank, which showed somewhat better food security conditions in the country.

The latest index published yesterday (11 October) pointed out that people, especially Bangladeshi children, were suffering from acute hunger.

Bangladesh’s position in the index also portrayed the diminishing health condition of the country’s low-income people.

However, the hunger rate in Bangladesh has improved since 2016, when the country’s score in the index was 24.7.

GHI scores are based on the values of four indicators such as the level of people’s malnutrition, child stunting, wasting and mortality. The less a country scores in the GHI, the lower the rate of hunger in that country.

According to the report based on the index, 11.9% of children in Bangladesh suffer from malnutrition and 2.9% of children die before reaching their fifth birthday.

Due to chronic malnutrition, 23.6% of children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth. Additionally, 11% of children under five experience wasting (weight not increasing in proportion to height). According to the report, 2.9% of children die before their fifth birthday.

Among neighbouring nations, India ranked 105th, Pakistan 109th and Afghanistan 116th below Bangladesh, whereas Sri Lanka with a hunger situation better than the other countries ranked 56th and Nepal 68th.

According to the GHI report, dozens of countries still experience a level of hunger that is much too high.

The 2024 GHI scores and provisional designations showed that hunger is considered alarming in six countries — Burundi, Chad, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

In 36 countries, hunger is designated as serious. Furthermore, many countries are slipping backward: in 22 countries with moderate, serious, or alarming 2024 GHI scores, hunger has actually increased since 2016.

In 20 countries with moderate, serious or alarming 2024 GHI scores, progress has largely stalled — their 2024 GHI scores have declined by less than 5% from their 2016 GHI scores.

However, examples of progress and hope do exist amid crises and worrying trends. A small number of countries — including Bangladesh, Mozambique, Nepal, Somalia and Togo — have made significant improvements in their GHI scores, even if hunger in these countries remains too high, read the report.