NEW DELHI:
India has been ranked 67, way below neighbouring countries like China and
Pakistan, in a new global hunger index by the International Food Policy Research Institute.
The index, released on Monday, rated 84 countries on the basis of three leading indicators -- prevalence of child malnutrition, rate of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.
China is rated much ahead of India at the ninth place, while Pakistan is at the 52nd place on the 2010 Global Hunger Index, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in association with a German group Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
In India, the high Index scores are driven by high levels of child underweight resulting from the low nutritional and social status of women in the country, the report pointed out, adding that India alone accounts for a large share of the world`s undernourished children, the IFPRI report said.
India is home to 42% of the world`s underweight children, while Pakistan has just 5%, it added.
Among other neighbouring countries,
Sri Lanka was at the 39th position and Nepal ranked 56 by index. Bangladesh listed at the 68th position.
11 Oct 2010 15:33:44 GMT 
11 Oct 2010 18:31:12 GMT