India Placed 100th of 122 Countries with Serious Score of 24.1 in Global Hunger Index 2026

Key facts

• The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2026, released on 14 October 2026 with the theme 'No Security Without Food Security', ranked India 100th of 122 countries, tied with Ethiopia, with a score of 24.1 in the 'serious' category.
• The report is published jointly by Welthungerhilfe (WHH), the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at Ruhr University Bochum, and Helvetas.
• India's 2026 indicator values are undernourishment 9.8% (2023-25), child wasting 19.0% (2021-25), child stunting 29.3% (2024) and child mortality 2.7% (2024); child wasting rose from 17.9% around 2000 while undernourishment improved from 18.1%.
• The GHI combines four indicators on a 100-point scale with weights of one-third each for undernourishment and child mortality and one-sixth each for child stunting and child wasting, so child indicators carry two-thirds of the weight; the serious band covers scores of 20.0 to 34.9.
• India's GHI score improved from 38.1 in 2000 to 24.1 in 2026, with intermediate scores of 37.0 (2006), 28.8 (2012) and 25.8 (2018).
• Among India's neighbours, Sri Lanka ranked 53rd (score 10.2), Nepal 72nd (14.5), Bangladesh 84th (19.2), Pakistan 106th (25.5) and Afghanistan 108th (28.6).
• The world GHI score in 2026 is 18.1 (moderate) and South Asia's is 23.5.
• The Government of India disputed the index in 2022 and 2023, calling it an erroneous measure of hunger with serious methodological issues, noting undernourishment was based on a small sample of 3,000 and that Poshan Tracker child wasting was consistently below 7.2% versus the 18.7% used in GHI 2023.
• World Food Day was observed on 16 October 2026 under the FAO banner 'Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow.'; the Food and Agriculture Organization was founded on 16 October 1945 in Quebec City.
• India's food and nutrition safety net includes the National Food Security Act, 2013 (5 kg foodgrains per person monthly, 35 kg for Antyodaya households, covering up to 75% rural and 50% urban population), PMGKAY providing free foodgrains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries for five years from 1 January 2024 at an estimated cost of Rs 11.80 lakh crore, and Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 approved for 2021-22 to 2025-26.