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The Challenge of Hunger 2008
Global Hunger Index
Klaus von Grebmer, Heidi Fritschel, Bella Nestorova, Tolulope Olofinbiyi, Rajul Pandya-Lorch, and Yisehac Yohannes
41 pages / 2008
Published by Welthungerhilfe, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Concern Worldwide
 More information
The Challenge of Hunger: The 2008 Global Hunger Index
IFPRI Issue Brief. October 2008.

India State Hunger Index: Comparison of Hunger Across States
IFPRI Issue Brief. March 2008.

Global Hunger Index 2008
IFPRI Media Briefing.
October 14, 2008.

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Executive Summary

The 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that the world has made slow progress in reducing food insecurity since 1990, with dramatic differences among regions and countries. In the nearly two decades since 1990, some regions — South and Southeast Asia, the Near East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean — have made significant headway in improving food security. Nevertheless, the GHI remains high in South Asia. The GHI is similarly high in Sub-Saharan Africa, where progress has been marginal since 1990.

The GHI level in the world as a whole remains serious. The countries with the most worrisome hunger status and the highest 2008 GHI scores are predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Burundi, Niger, and Sierra Leone at the bottom of the list. Several dozen countries in various regions have GHI scores categorized as low.

Hunger is closely tied to poverty, and countries with high levels of hunger are overwhelmingly low- or low-middle-income countries. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the regions with the highest GHI scores and the highest poverty rates.

The recent advent of higher food prices has uneven effects across countries, depending on a range of factors, including whether countries are net importers or exporters of food. Among the countries for which the GHI is calculated, net cereal importers, for example, greatly outnumber exporters, implying that many more countries combating hunger are likely to suffer from higher prices than benefit from them. Higher food prices have also caused violent and nonviolent protests in dozens of countries.

In this context of higher food prices, prospects for improving food and nutrition security do not appear favorable, given that at least 800 million people were food insecure even before the food price crisis hit. Higher food prices cut into poor households’ food budgets, with particularly serious risks for undernourished infants and children. High prices also reduce the amount of food aid that donors can supply with a given amount of funds.

Combating the food crisis will require more food aid for poor people; much greater investments in agriculture, especially the small farm sector; more investment in social protection programs and social sectors like education and health; reforms to create a fair world trading system; changes to biofuel policies; measures to calm global food markets; better data collection and improved monitoring of the food and nutrition situation; and more support for nongovernmental organizations that work on behalf of poor people in developing countries.

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2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI): Power Point Presentation
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2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI): FAQs
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About the GHI

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What is the GHI?
The Global Hunger Index is a comprehensive measure of hunger and malnutrition.

When was the GHI introduced?
IFPRI’s Global Hunger Index first appeared in 2006. The intellectual and methodological frameworks for the GHI were first outlined in the following two publications:
  • von Braun, J. 2000. Wie die Welternährung im 21. Jahrhundert sichern?. In: Jahrbuch Welternährung: Daten, Trends, Perspektiven. Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, 34-37.
  • Wiesmann, D., J. von Braun and T. Feldbrügge. 2000. Die Lage der Welternährung - Daten, Fakten, Trends. In: Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (eds.): Jahrbuch Welternährung: Daten, Trends, Perspektiven. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt.

How does the GHI work?
The GHI ranks countries based on three indicators and combines them into one. The three indicators are: proportion of people who are calorie deficient, child malnutrition prevalence, and child mortality rate. Countries are ranked on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst, though neither of these extremes is achieved in practice.

Why are these three specific indicators selected?
The proportion of people who are calorie deficient is a key indicator of hunger. The Index also includes child undernutrition, because children are the most vulnerable to the effects of hunger. Since half of all child deaths are related to undernutrition, child mortality rates are an important measure of the impact of hunger.

Why is the GHI different than other global hunger reports by the FAO and others, for example?
By combining three indicators into one Index, the GHI provides a more comprehensive picture of the extent of hunger than can be obtained by simply looking at overall calorie deficiency or another single indicator.

How many countries were ranked in the 2008 GHI report?
The 2008 GHI was calculated for 120 countries in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. After excluding countries where hunger was low, the GHI ranked 88 countries in total.

How are the countries in the 2008 GHI report selected?
The calculation of GHI scores is restricted to developing countries and countries in transition for which measuring hunger is considered most relevant and for which data on the three indicators are available.

What is different about this year’s report compared to previous reports?
This year’s GHI – the third to date – highlights the countries and regions facing the greatest risk in the current context of high food prices. The 2008 GHI is calculated using the latest data available on the three indicators. Both the 1990 and the 2008 GHI incorporate the new WHO Child Growth Standards for child malnutrition, which were revised in 2006.

What data sources are used for the three indicators in the 2008 GHI?
Data about the proportion of people who are calorie deficient (2002-2004) are from FAO 2006 and authors’ estimates. Data on child malnutrition (2001-2006) are from WHO 2006 and authors’ estimates. Data for child mortality for 2006 are from UNICEF 2006.

Are there any limitations of the 2008 GHI?
The GHI is limited by the collection of data by various governments and international agencies. The GHI 2008 incorporates data only until 2006 — the most recent available. Therefore, the report offers a picture of the past, not the present. The report does not reflect the effects of recent increases in food and energy prices on hunger.

Key Findings

What is the main finding of the 2008 GHI?
Thirty-three countries have levels of hunger that are alarming or extremely alarming, and world progress in hunger reduction since 1990 has been slow. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa continue to suffer from high levels of hunger. South Asia has made rapid progress in combating hunger, but Sub-Saharan Africa has made only marginal progress.

Which countries have the highest (worst) 2008 GHI scores?
The countries with the highest 2008 GHI scores are predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Burundi, Niger, and Sierra Leone topping the list.

Which countries have the lowest (best) 2008 GHI scores?
Mauritius, Jamaica, Moldova, Cuba, and Peru have the lowest 2008 GHI scores.

Which countries have made the most progress in reducing hunger since 1990, according to the 2008 GHI report?
The GHI increased in:
  1. Kuwait (most progress)
  2. Peru
  3. Syrian Arab Republic
  4. Turkey
  5. Mexico
  6. Egypt
  7. Vietnam
  8. Thailand
  9. Brazil
  10. Iran

In which countries did hunger deteriorate between 1990 and 2008?
The GHI increased in:
  1. Democratic Republic of Congo (least progress)
  2. North Korea
  3. Swaziland
  4. Guinea-Bissau
  5. Zimbabwe
  6. Burundi
  7. Liberia
  8. Comoros
  9. Botswana
  10. Zambia

Explain why South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have similar poverty rates and GHI scores.
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the highest GHI scores and highest rates of poverty. The trends in poverty and hunger reduction in the two regions, however, are different in magnitude. South Asia’s current GHI and poverty rate reflect rapid progress since 1990, when the levels of poverty and hunger were very high, whereas in Sub-Saharan Africa the GHI has decreased much more slowly and poverty has been persistent.

What is causing the high GHI scores in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia?
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia share the highest regional GHI scores (23.3 and 23.0 respectively), but this stems from different sources.
In South Asia, the major problem is a high prevalence of child malnutrition, which stems from the lower nutritional and educational status of women, as well as poorly designed and poorly implemented nutrition and health programs, and inadequate water and sanitation services. In contrast, the high GHI in Sub-Saharan Africa is due to high child mortality and a high proportion of people who cannot meet their calorie requirements. Low government effectiveness, conflict, and political instability, and high rates of HIV/AIDS, have driven these two indicators.

What factors contribute to a high GHI score?
Income and Poverty Levels: Countries with high levels of hunger are overwhelmingly low- or low- to middle-income countries with high levels of poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the regions with the highest GHI scores and the highest poverty rates.
War and Violent Conflict: This has been a major cause of widespread poverty and food insecurity in most of the countries with high GHI scores.
Lack of General Freedom: All 15 countries with the highest GHI scores have been consistently rated by the Freedom House Index as non-free or partially free (political rights and civil liberties) in the period 2006–2008.
Women’s status (in South Asia): Women’s status is an important contributor to child malnutrition, which in turn is the major contributor to high GHI scores for South Asian countries.
Poorly targeted and delivered health and nutrition programs: Well-designed and well-implemented health and nutrition services can reduce child malnutrition substantially. Many of the countries with high GHI scores, especially in South Asia where child undernutrition contributes a lot to the GHI score, do not have effective health and nutrition services that reach the most vulnerable age groups (pre-pregnancy through 2 years of age).

Impact of Rising Food, and Energy Prices on GHI Scores

Does the 2008 GHI assess the impact of recent increases in food and energy prices?
No, the report does not reflect recent increases in food and energy prices,but it does make references to their likely impact on hunger. The report incorporates data only until 2006, the most recent available.

According to the GHI, will countries benefit from higher food prices?
Higher food prices have uneven effects across countries, depending on a range of factors. One such factor is whether a country is a net importer or exporter of food, an indicator that reveals its vulnerability to rising cereal prices. Net exporters of cereals, like Argentina and Kazakhstan, tend to benefit from higher prices. Net importing countries with extremely alarming GHI scores—Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Niger, and Sierra Leone—will be hit the hardest by high food prices.

How will higher food prices affect consumers and farmers in the countries studied?
Most of the world’s poor people are net buyers of food, even in rural areas, where millions of people do not own land or do not produce enough food to feed their families. These net food buyers are spending more on food and cutting back on their consumption, with detrimental effects on their nutritional and health status.

Farmers who are net food producers could benefit from the higher prices for their food commodities, but these farmers are often not the poorest. Well-off farmers in China and Kenya, for example, are moving into higher-value products to take advantage of rising prices.

How will higher food prices impact the food and nutrition security of people in the countries studied?
In the context of higher food prices, the prospects for improving food and nutrition security do not appear favorable, given that at least 800 million people were food insecure even before the food-price crisis hit. Higher food prices cut into poor households’ food budgets, with particularly serious risks for undernourished infants and children. High prices also reduce the amount of food aid that donors can supply with a given amount of funds.

Hunger and Conflict

Are data for Iraq and Afghanistan included in the report?
No, data for these two countries were not available at the time of publication.



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