What you must-know for UPSC Exam

Key Takeaways :

1. The production of the GRFC 2025 is coordinated by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) in support of the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC). It provides consensus-based analysis on acute food insecurity, acute malnutrition and population displacement in countries/territories identified as having food crises in 2024. 

2. Out of the 65 countries/territories selected for the GRFC 2025, 53 had data meeting GRFC technical requirements. The report reveals that in 2024, over 295 million people across 53 countries and territories faced acute hunger. This is an increase of almost 14 million people compared to 2023, while the number of people facing catastrophic levels of hunger reached a record high. 

3. Furthermore, acute food insecurity and child malnutrition rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2024, pushing millions of people to the brink, in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. 

4. Notably, the list of the ten countries with the highest number of people facing acute food insecurity has remained unchanged since 2023. Each had over nine million people affected last year and collectively accounted for more than 196 million people –– 66 per cent of the global total.

Source: IPC TWGs, 2024; Myanmar pre-analysis conducted under the HNRP; CH, 2024; FEWS NET (Ethiopia); WFP (CARI).

5. Nigeria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone represented more than a quarter (28%) of the 295.3 million people facing crisis or worse levels of acute hunger.

Afghanistan, the Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen were among the countries with both the highest number and share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity. (Source: Global Report on Food Crises 2025)

6. Countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen have consistently appeared on this list since 2016.

Drivers of Acute Food Insecurity

According to GRFC 2025, “Acute food insecurity is rarely driven by a single shock or hazard, but rather by the interaction between shocks and underlying poverty, structural weaknesses, and other vulnerability factors. Still, it is possible to identify a primary driver for each country/territory.”

Drivers of acute food insecurity. (Source: Global Report on Food Crises 2025)

1. Conflict remained the leading driver, impacting over 140 million people in areas such as the Gaza Strip, South Sudan, and others.

2. Economic shocks, including inflation and currency devaluation, triggered hunger in 15 countries, affecting 59.4 million people—most notably in Afghanistan and Yemen.

3. Extreme weather events impacted over 96 million people globally, with Southern Africa, Southern Asia, and the Horn of Africa among the worst-affected regions. These drivers continue to worsen food insecurity and malnutrition, particularly in already fragile areas.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2024

1. The GHI is published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe annually to measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels. The purpose of the report is to create awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger and call attention to those areas of the world where hunger levels are highest and there is a need for additional efforts.

2. GHI is calculated based on a formula that combines four indicators that together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger: (The source of the following definitions is globalhungerindex.org)

📍Undernourishment: the share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient;

📍Child stunting: the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition;

📍Child wasting: the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition; and

📍Child mortality: the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, reflecting in part the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.

Methodology of calculating GHI. (Source: GHI)

3. According to the Global Hunger Index released on 10th October 2024, the hunger levels in 42 countries are at alarming levels, making the goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 unattainable. At this pace of progress, the world will not even attain a low hunger level until 2160. The world’s GHI score is 18.3, which is considered moderate in the severity of hunger scale.

4. The 2024 GHI reflects that multiple factors are posing challenges in attaining Zero Hunger. The challenges include large-scale armed conflicts, climate change indicators that are worsening faster than expected, high food prices, market disruptions, economic downturns, and debt crises in many low- and middle-income countries.

5. Six countries – Somalia, Yemen, Chad, Madagascar, Burundi, and South Sudan- have levels of hunger considered alarming. This is the result of widespread human misery, undernourishment, and malnutrition.

6. India is ranked 105th among 127 countries in the GHI 2024, indicating a ‘serious’ level of hunger, along with Afghanistan and Pakistan, which also face hunger challenges. Child wasting is particularly high in India. Child undernutrition in India goes hand in hand with the poor nutritional status of mothers, suggesting an intergenerational pattern of undernutrition and underscoring the need for attention to maternal health nutrition and infant feeding.

7. India’s GHI score of 27.3 is a cause for concern, especially when compared to its South Asian neighbours like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, which fall into the “moderate” category.

8. The performance of India on various parameters of GHI:

📍13.7 per cent of India’s population suffers from undernourishment,

📍35.5 per cent of children under the age of five are stunted

📍18.7 per cent experience child wasting and

📍2.9 per cent of children do not reach their fifth birthday.

Post Read Questions

(1) Consider the following statements with reference to the Global Report on Food Crises 2025:

1. Conflicts, economic shocks, and extreme weather events are the key drivers of acute food insecurity.

2. The list of the ten countries with the highest number of people facing acute food insecurity has remained unchanged since 2023.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

(2) Which of the following is not a dimension for calculating the score of the Global Hunger Index?

(a) Undernourishment

(b) Child Wasting

(c) Child Stunting

(d) Birth Rate

(Sources: Top 10 countries facing severe food insecurity in 2024–25, openknowledge.fao.org,  Top 10 countries worst hit by the global hunger crisis)

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