BD slips three notches to 84th

Bangladesh has slipped three notches to 84th in the 2024 edition of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) that indicates countries' positions as per their malnutrition, children's development and their mortality.

With a score of 19.4 points, the south Asian nation has been evaluated as a moderate hunger country, according to the report.

In the previous edition of the global report, Bangladesh ranked 81st out of 125 countries.

The Ireland-based Concern Worldwide and Germany-based Welthungerhilfe jointly published Thursday the report styled 'Global Hunger Index: How gender justice can advance climate resilience and zero hunger'.

Although Bangladesh and some other countries have made notable improvement by reducing their GHI scores, according to the report, hunger still prevails there as a matter of anxiety.

Bangladesh's GHI score was 30.6 in 2008, which slid down to 24.7 in 2016 and 19.4 this year, while the lower means the better.

"Notable reductions in GHI scores have been made, for example, in Bangladesh, Mozambique, Nepal, Somalia and Togo, although hunger remains a serious concern in these countries," reads the report.

The GHI is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional and national levels.

GHI scores are based on the values of four indicators such as the level of people's malnutrition, child stunting, wasting and their mortality. According to the report, some 11.9 per cent of Bangladesh's population is undernourished, meaning that they do not get enough food to meet their daily calorie needs.

Nearly one-fourth or 23.6 per cent of children below five are stunted or too short for their age due to chronic malnutrition.

Besides, a significant number of 11 per cent of children under five are wasted, indicating that they have a low weight for their height, usually caused by acute malnutrition.

According to the report, 2.9 per cent of such children die before their fifth birthday, exhibiting the impact of malnutrition on child survival.

Among neighbouring nations, India ranked 105th, Pakistan 109th, Afghanistan 116th below Bangladesh, whereas Sri Lanka ranked 56th and Nepal 68th above Bangladesh.

Madagascar, Chad, Yemen and Somalia have been placed in the last four positions of the ranking.

On the other hand, 22 countries, including Belarus, China, Kuwait, Romania, Russian Federation, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay collectively ranked top.

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