Myanmar, with a strategic location and rich natural resources, is worse than the landlocked Nepal with rugged geography and few tangible natural resources, in the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI), an indicator of a country’s malnutrition and hunger.
Myanmar stands at 77 out of 119 countries in the index while Nepal finds itself at 72. Myanmar is followed by war-torn Iraq coming in at 78 on the GHI, a multidimensional statistical tool used to describe the state of countries’ hunger situation. America’s nuclear nemesis North Korea is placed not far away from Myanmar at 93.
China and India, Myanmar’s two big neighbours, are distantly ranked at 29 and 100 respectively on the GHI, which measures progress and failures in the global fight against hunger. The 100th ranking of India is the third highest score in all of Asia after Pakistan(106) and Afghanistan (107).
T h e h i g h s c o r e s o f I n d i a , Bangladesh and Pakistan were one of the main factors pushing South Asia to the category of worst performing region on the GHI this year, according to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which is an international agricultural research centre that provides research-based policy solutions to reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in a sustainable manner in developing countries.
The 2017 GHI rated 119 countries in the developing world, nearly half of which have ‘extremely alarming,’ ‘alarming’ or ’serious’ hunger levels. The report, now in its 12th year, ranks countries based on four key indicators — undernourishment, child mortality, child wasting and child stunting.
