According to the 2015 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a joint publication by IFPRI, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe, significant progress has been made in decreasing levels of global hunger. The 2015 GHI for the developing world fell 27 percent from the 2000 GHI. However, the levels of hunger in the world are still unacceptably high, with 795 million people going hungry, one in four children affected by stunting, and 9 percent of children are affected by wasting.
For the last ten years, IFPRI has calculated the GHI in order to chart progress over time and country by country. This is the tenth year that IFPRI has calculated the GHI, with an interactive map showing where hunger levels are most dire.
More than 13 million people were uprooted due to violence in 2014. Conflict has forced 42,500 people per day to flee their homes. More than 40 countries have been affected by internal conflict since 2000, most dealing with multiple civil wars within the last decade. These conflicts deeply affect human welfare, trapping citizens in a cycle of poverty. Countries suffering from repeated and protracted conflict are more likely to experience higher levels of malnutrition, reduced access to education, and higher infant mortality rates than a more stable country.
It is unsurprising that the first two of the three countries with the highest index numbers – the Central African Republic, Chad, and Zambia – are experiencing persistent violent conflict and instability. Due to insufficient data, indexes could not be created for some of the world’s most dire situations, such as Libya, Syria, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia.
Conflicts in areas such as Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and South Sudan have presented complex situations with a shifting nature to the conflict that make peace settlements challenging. This year’s report has drawn a direct linkage between regions where poverty is most severe and persistent and armed conflict. In order to properly address the implementation of this year’s UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international community must find durable and long-lasting solutions to conflict in order eliminate food insecurity.
Below is a chart of index numbers from The Hunger Project’s program countries.
Country | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2015 |
Benin | 46.1 | 42.6 | 38.2 | 33.3 | 21.8 |
Burkina Faso | 53.0 | 46.1 | 48.4 | 49.6 | 31.8 |
Ethiopia | 71.1 | 67.3 | 58.6 | 48.5 | 33.9 |
Ghana | 45.7 | 36.8 | 29.9 | 23.3 | 15.5 |
Malawi | 58.9 | 55.9 | 45.3 | 39.1 | 27.3 |
Mozambique | 64.5 | 63.2 | 49.2 | 42.4 | 32.5 |
Senegal | 36.8 | 36.9 | 37.9 | 28.5 | 23.2 |
Uganda | 39.8 | 40.9 | 39.3 | 32.2 | 27.6 |
Bangladesh | 52.2 | 50.3 | 38.5 | 31.0 | 27.3 |
India | 48.1 | 42.3 | 38.2 | 38.5 | 29.0 |
Mexico | 16.8 | 16.9 | 10.8 | 8.9 | 7.3 |
Peru | 30.7 | 25.0 | 20.9 | 18.8 | 9.1 |