World's 20 least hungry nations; India's record worsens!

Despite all its boasts of a booming economy, India is home to half the world's hungry people.

According to the Global Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute, India ranks 67th out of 84 countries, having slipped by 2 ranks since the last year, with a hunger rate of 23.7.

The Global Hunger Index ranks countries on a 100-point scale. Zero is the best score (no hunger), and 100 is the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in practice.

The scale on the following page shows the severity of hunger -- from 'low' to 'extremely alarming' -- associated with the range of possible GHI scores.

The 2011 GHI is calculated for 122 countries for which data on the three components are available and for which measuring hunger is considered most relevant (some higher-income countries are excluded from the GHI calculation because the prevalence of hunger is very low).

So let us take find out which are the 20 developing nations where there is least amount of hunger. But click NEXT to first take a look at India. . .

1. Gabon: Hunger rate 5.2

Gabon is a small central African nation. It covers a land area of nearly 270,000 sq km and has an estimated population of 1,500,000. Its capital is Libreville.

Among all of the countries ranked in the 2011 Global Hunger Index, Gabon had the lowest score and thus the lowest level of hunger.

The 2011 GHI score fell by 18 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa compared with the 1990 score.

Sub-Saharan Africa's GHI score stagnated between 1990 and 1996, fell slightly until 2001, and declined more markedly up to the period reflected in the 2011 GHI.

All of the countries with 'extremely alarming' levels of hunger - Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Eritrea - are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Out of six countries in which the hunger situation actually worsened (five of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa), the DRC stands out; its GHI score rose about 63 percent owing to conflict and political instability. The DRC has the highest proportion of undernourished people - about 70 percent of the population.

More than 50 percent of the population is also undernourished in Burundi and Eritrea.

India, which was largely unaffected by the recent global economic slowdown, however, appears to have made little progress in tackling hunger and malnutrition. The situation remains 'alarming' in the country on this front.

Even nations like Uganda (42nd); Rwanda (60th); Liberia (61st), Nepal (54th), Zimbabwe (46th), Pakistan (59th) and many others have a better record than India on this front. War-torn nations too have managed to fight hunger better than India, even as the country is discussing the Food Security Bill at the highest levels. More than 300 million people in India go hungry.

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2. Mauritius: Hunger rate 5.4

Mauritius is an island nation off the coast of Africa. Mauritius's area is 2,040 sq km and its capital is Port Louis.

The 2011 world GHI fell by 26 per cent from the 1990 world GHI, from a score of 19.7 to 14.6.

Gabon had the best/lowest 2011 GHI score, followed by Mauritius. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the highest hunger levels, with regional scores of 22.6 and 20.5, respectively. From the 1990 GHI to the 2011 GHI, 15 countries reduced their scores by 50 per cent or more.

Growing demand for biofuels, extreme weather and climate change, and increased financial activity through commodity futures markets are the main causes of high and volatile food prices, according to the 2011 Global Hunger Index report, The Challenge of Hunger: Taming Price Spikes and Excessive Food Price Volatility.

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2. Paraguay: Hunger rate 5.4

Paraguay is a South American nation, bordered by Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia.

The challenge of rising food prices, etc is exacerbated by historically low levels of grain reserves, export markets for staple commodities that are highly concentrated in a few countries, and lack of timely, accurate information on food production, stock levels, and price forecasting, which can lead to overreaction by policymakers and soaring prices.

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4. China: Hunger rate 5.5

China has the largest population (1.40 billion) in the world and 50 years ago it was arguably poorer than India. Yet, it has managed to bring over 500 people out of poverty, its hungry count is today less than 100 million, and that number is shrinking every year.

The report was released in advance of World Food Day (October 16) for the sixth year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide.

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4. El Salvador: Hunger rate 5.5

El Salvador is the smallest central American country. San Salvador is its capital.

In order to identify hunger levels and hot spots, the Global Hunger Index scores countries based on three equally weighted indicators:

1. The proportion of people who are undernourished,

2. The proportion of children under five who are underweight, and

3. The child mortality rate.

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4. Kyrgyz Republic: Hunger rate 5.5

The Kyrgyz Republic, in central Asia, is bordered by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China.

The terminology used to refer to different concepts of hunger can be confusing. Hunger is usually understood to refer to the discomfort associated with lack of food. The FAO defines it specifically as consumption of fewer than about 1,800 kilocalories a day -- the minimum that most people require to live a healthy and productive life.

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7. Trinidad and Tobago: Hunger rate 5.6

Trinidad and Tobago is an island in the Caribbean.

The term undernutrition signifies deficiencies in energy, protein, essential vitamins and minerals, or any or all of these. Undernutrition is the result of inadequate intake of food -- in terms of either quantity or quality -- or poor utilization of nutrients due to infections or other illnesses, or a combination of these two factors.

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8. Colombia: Hunger rate 5.7

Colombia has a population of about 45 million people.

Malnutrition refers more broadly to both undernutrition (problems of deficiencies) and overnutrition (consumption of too many calories in relation to requirements, with or without low intake of micronutrient-rich foods). Both conditions contribute to poor health.

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9. Morocco: Hunger rate 5.9

Located in north Africa, Morocco has a population of about 32 million and area of 710,850 sq km.

According to the 2011 Index, 26 countries have levels of hunger that are alarming or extremely alarming, and all those with extremely alarming levels -- Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Eritrea -- are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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9. Peru: Hunger rate 5.9

Peru in south America is bordered by Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia. 

To tame food price volatility and protect the poor against future shocks, the report makes several policy recommendations focused on the three levels of action.

• Addressing the drivers of food price volatility;
• Tackling global market characteristics affecting volatility, including building up stocks by coordinating international food reserves and sharing information on food markets; and
• Building resilience for the future.

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11. Turkmenistan: Hunger rate 6.2

Turkmenistan  is one of the six independent Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The GHI report says that almost 46% of Indian children below the age of 5 are underweight and close to 300 million Indians go without food every day!

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12. Uzbekistan: Hunger rate 6.3

With a hunger rate of 6.3, Uzbekistan is one of the least hungry nations on earth. 

Rising food prices contributed to a significant increase in food insecurity worldwide, particularly among poorer populations. Approximately 1 billion people -- or one sixth of the world's population -- subsist on less than $1 per day.

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13. South Africa: Hunger rate 6.4

Mineral-rich South Africa is one of the few African nations that do not suffer fromthe scourge of hunger. 

According to the World Bank, several factors contributed to the rapid spike in global food prices. These are:

• Increased consumer demand for food;
• Oil, and energy supplies among emerging markets such as China and India, leading to rising energy costs;
• Lower crop yields resulting from adverse weather conditions and
• Higher corn prices stemming from increased biofuel production.

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14. Panama: Hunger rate 7.0

Panama's economy has been experiencing a boom with growth GDP growth averaging around 8-9%.

Despite its economic successes, India leads the world in hunger. According to the 2008 Global Hunger Index, which is calculated by the International Food Policy Research Institute, India has close to 350 million people who are food insecure -- in other words, who are not sure where their next meal will come from.

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15. Guyana: Hunger rate 7.1

Guyana, a Caribbean island, has manged to combat the scourge of hunger very well.

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16. Ecuador: Hunger rate 7.9

Ecuador, in South America, has a hunger rate of 7.9, as compared to that of India which is at 23.7. 

India is the second most populated country in the world. With a population of over 1.20 billion, the hungry make up over 25 per cent or one in four in the country. The percentage is probably better than it was fifty years ago, but the absolute number is growing.

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16. Honduras: Hunger rate 7.9

Honduras is one of the poorest among the developing nations, but its efforts to fight hunger have borne fruit. Today it is one of the least hungry nations.

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18. Suriname: Hunger rate 8.0

Agriculture, especially plantation of rice and bananas, forms a major part of the Surinamese economy.

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19. Thailand: Hunger rate 8.1

Thailand is a highly industrialized nation. In the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, it was the world's fasted growing economy.

Thailand is the world's top exporter of rice, exporting more than 6.5 million tons of milled rice annually.

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20 Ghana: Hunger rate 8.7

Only one country in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana, is among the ten countries that most improved their GHI scores since 1990, having reduced its score by 59 per cent.

Ghana's success resulted from a combination of investments in agriculture, rural development, education, and health, including strong increases in the rate of immunization against common childhood diseases.

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59. Pakistan: Hunger rate 20.7

Despite its economy not doing as well as India's and the global metldowns affecting it much harder than its larger neighbour, Pakistan has lesser hunger than India.

However, with a hunger rate of 20.7, it still is among the hungriest nations on the planet.