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What is the Global Hunger Index?

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally, regionally, and by country.¹ Each year, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) calculates GHI scores in order to assess progress, or the lack thereof, in decreasing hunger. The GHI is designed to raise awareness and understanding of regional and country differences in the struggle against hunger. By calling attention to the issue, we hope that the GHI will trigger action to reduce hunger around the world.

How do you interpret a GHI score?

An increase in a country's GHI score indicates that the hunger situation is worsening, while a decrease in the score indicates improvement in the country's hunger situation.

What are the scores based on?

The scores are based on source data for the four component indicators. The data for these indicators are continually revised by the international organizations that compile them, and each year's GHI report reflects these revisions. The 2015 GHI reflects country-level data and projections spanning the period 2010 to 2016. Methodology

What are the four components used in the GHI formula?

The four component indicators are:

• Undernourishment: the proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake);
• Child wasting: the proportion of children under the age of five who suffer from wasting (low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);
• Child stunting: the proportion of children under the age of five who suffer from stunting (low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and
• Child mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).²

Why are scores based on these four indicators?

Hunger is a multidimensional problem. To reflect the multidimensional nature of hunger, the GHI combines the four component indicators into one index. There are several advantages to measuring hunger using this multidimensional approach. It reflects the nutrition situation of not only the population as a whole, but also of children—a vulnerable subset of the population for whom a lack of dietary energy, protein, or micronutrients (essential vitamins and minerals) leads to a high risk of illness, poor physical and cognitive development, or death. It also combines independently measured indicators to reduce the effects of random measurement errors.

Which countries have GHI scores?

The 2015 GHI has been calculated for 117 countries for which data on the four component indicators are available and where measuring hunger is considered most relevant. GHI scores are not calculated for some higher-income countries where the prevalence of hunger is very low.

Where do the data come from?

The scores are based on source data that are continuously revised by the international organizations that compile them, and each year's GHI report reflects these revisions. While these revisions result in improvements in the data, they also mean that the GHI scores from different years' reports are not comparable with one another. Also, with the use of the revised formula in this year's report, direct comparisons between this report's findings and the scores from previous GHI reports are not possible. This year's report contains GHI scores for 2015 and four reference periods—1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. All scores were calculated using the revised formula. This allows for valid comparisons of hunger levels over time.

How current is the GHI?

The GHI is only as current as the data for its four component indicators. The 2015 GHI reflects the most recent country-level data and projections available between 2010 and 2016. It therefore reflects hunger levels during this period rather than solely capturing the conditions in 2015.³

What time periods do the data cover?

The 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2015 GHI scores presented in this year' s report reflect the latest revised data for the four component indicators of the GHI. The 1990 GHI scores are based on data from 1988 through 1992; the 1995 scores are based on data from 1993–1997; the 2000 scores are based on data from 1998 through 2002; the 2005 scores are based on data from 2003 through 2007; and the 2015 scores are based on data and projections from 2010 through 2016. Where original source data were not available, the estimates for the GHI component indicators were based on the most recent data available. See table for more information on the data sources and reference periods for the 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2015 GHI scores.

What's new about this year's formula?

This year, GHI scores have been calculated using a revised and improved formula. The revision replaces child underweight, previously the sole indicator of child undernutrition, with two indicators of child undernutrition—child wasting and child stunting—which are equally weighted in the GHI calculation. The revised formula also standardizes each of the component indicators to balance their contribution to the overall index and to changes in GHI scores over time.

Could GHI scores be calculated for all countries?

No, due to missing or unavailable data, GHI scores could not be calculated for all countries. This year' s report does not include GHI scores for Bahrain, Bhutan, Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Libya, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Syrian Arab Republic. Burundi, Comoros, Eritrea, and Sudan and South Sudan (calculated as one entity last year) had alarming or extremely alarming GHI scores in the 2014 report. In addition, due to missing data, it has not been possible to calculate a GHI score for the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 2011 GHI report, when it had the highest GHI score of all countries.

What's needed to solve the data gap problem?

Further improvements in collecting high-quality data on hunger and undernutrition will allow for a more complete and current assessment of the state of global hunger, which can, in turn, better guide efforts to end hunger.

More information can be found at: www.ifpri.org/ghi/2015