62 Million Children Are Underweight; 3.3 Million Die Before 5th Birthday

Newsreel Asia Insight #330
October 14, 2024

India shows serious levels of hunger, reports the 2024 Global Hunger Index, despite its GDP continuing to grow. In the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI), India ranks 105th out of 127 countries, with a GHI score of 27.3, indicating a serious level of hunger, despite GDP growth averaging 6.33%.

According to the report, 13.7% of India’s population is undernourished, 35.5% of children under five are stunted, 18.7% are wasted and 2.9% die before their fifth birthday.

Underweight

Children who are stunted have a low height for their age. This condition reflects chronic undernutrition, meaning they have experienced long-term insufficient nutrient intake and frequent infections. Children who are wasted have a low weight for their height. This condition indicates acute undernutrition, reflecting a recent and severe process of weight loss often due to starvation or severe disease.

India has 114.6 million children under the age of five.  This means, 40.6 million children under the age of five in India – equivalent to more than the entire population of Nepal – are stunted; 21.4 million children are wasted; and 3.3 million children die before their fifth birthday.

GDP

India’s GDP growth averaged 6.33% from 2006 until 2024, reaching an all-time high of 9.70% in 2022 and a record low of -5.80% in 2021. The contradiction between economic growth and persistent hunger raises questions about why undernourishment has worsened compared to 2016, even though per capita dietary energy supply has increased year-on-year due to enhanced production of major agricultural commodities.

“GDP growth alone does not automatically translate into improved food and nutrition security in the whole population,” states the report. It stresses that policies need to focus on pro-poor development and address social and economic inequalities. India’s GDP growth experienced a considerable dip in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have affected the food security of vulnerable populations, it adds.

Access to Food

The report notes that although people in India theoretically have more food available to them on average, this benefit is cancelled out because more food gets wasted before it reaches consumers, people’s bodies require more energy than before and there’s a growing gap between those who eat enough and those who don’t. As a result, the number of undernourished people in India went up between 2017–2019 and 2020–2022, though there’s been a slight improvement recently.

Need for Intervention

The report says that to improve its Global Hunger Index ranking, India needs to focus on reducing the high numbers of children who are wasted and stunted. The National Family Health Survey (2019–2021) points out that children’s poor nutrition is closely linked to mothers who are also not well-nourished. Since the highest rate of children being wasted occurs at birth and decreases steadily until age three, this suggests that undernutrition is being passed from mothers to children across generations.

The report points out that several interventions have proven effective in reducing hunger and undernutrition. These include improved access to social safety nets and cash transfers, such as the Public Distribution Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Investments in mother and child health, particularly during the first 1,000 days from conception to two years of age, are also crucial.

The report recommends that India should invest more in agriculture and take a comprehensive look at how food is produced and distributed, ensuring that all government programs work together smoothly. This includes promoting the growth of a variety of healthy, eco-friendly and safe foods like millets, which are nutritious grains. It also suggests planning with nutrition in mind by integrating nutrition goals into local village development plans (known as Gram Panchayat Development Planning) and giving awards to villages that excel in improving nutrition, called Nutri-smart Panchayats.