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India stays in the 'serious' band of the 2026 Global Hunger Index as South Asia lags the world
India scores 24.1 and Pakistan 25.5, while Nepal and Sri Lanka are rated moderate. A separate list of the world's ten worst food crises names Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Key points
- India's score on the 2026 Global Hunger Index is 24.1, in the serious category.
- South Asia scores 23.5, well above the world score of 18.1.
- Action Against Hunger says Pakistan has 10.6 million people needing aid in 2026.
India remains in the “serious” category of the Global Hunger Index, with a score of 24.1 in the 2026 edition, and South Asia as a whole is doing worse than the world average.
The region scores 23.5, also in the serious band, against a global score of 18.1. On the index, a lower score means less hunger. It combines measures of undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and deaths of children under five.
Pakistan, at 25.5, and Afghanistan, at 28.6, are also rated serious. Nepal (14.5) and Sri Lanka (10.2) fall in the moderate band.
Bangladesh slows down
Bangladesh ranks 84th of 122 countries with a score of 19.2, rated moderate. The report called its long-run gains “a generational achievement”, but progress has stalled: the score has improved only about 4% since 2018, after falling by more than 42% between 2000 and 2018. Child wasting, the share of children too thin for their height, has climbed to 12.9%, its highest since 2000. Stunting has dropped to 24%.
The worst crises
A separate report by the charity Action Against Hunger, released on Friday for World Food Day, listed the ten largest food crises in the world. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are all on it. About 177 million people live in the ten countries, and acute hunger has doubled over the past decade to 266 million people in 47 countries. In Pakistan alone, 10.6 million people will need humanitarian help this year, the charity said.