Welthungerhilfe and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Germany, along with Concern Worldwide, Ireland released this report in October 2024. The first Global Hunger Index (GHI) report was published in 2006. This 2024 edition – the 19th in the series – highlights the importance of considering the existing gendered and unequal access to resources while working towards the goals of climate resilience and hunger eradication. It also measures the progress made towards achieving the second of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – ‘Zero Hunger’. Quoting the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, the report states that ‘food deprivation’ or ‘undernourishment’ refers to “the habitual consumption of too few calories to provide the minimum dietary energy an individual requires to live a healthy and productive life, given that person’s sex, age, stature, and physical activity level.” The 2024 report calculates the GHI for 127 countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst. The scores range from ‘low’ (less than or equal to the score of 9.9), ‘moderate’ (10-19.9), ‘serious’ (20-34.9), ‘alarming’ (35-49.9) to ‘extremely alarming’ (greater than or equal to 50). GHI is calculated on the basis of four indicators: ‘undernourishment’ (share of population with insufficient calorie intake), ‘child stunting’ (share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age), ‘child wasting’ (share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height) and ‘child mortality’ (mortality rate of children under the age of five). The guest essay in this edition by Nitya Rao, Siera Vercillo and Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey examines how climate crisis and food insecurity differentially affects women and sexual minorities The report uses data collected by various United Nations agencies – including the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Health Organization, United Nations Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation – and other organisations such as the World Bank and Demographic and Health Surveys Program.
