Sri Lanka performs better in reducing hunger in 2020

Sri Lanka ranked 64th out of the 107 countries in the 2020 Global Hunger Index (GHI), with a score of 16.3 and a level of hunger that was termed ‘moderate’.

The 2020 GHI released last week examines levels of hunger in 107 developing countries and scores them based on four indicators - the prevalence of undernourishment, child stunting (low height for age), child wasting (low weight for height) and child mortality.

Despite efforts to increase the nutritional level of Sri Lanka's children, Sri Lanka still experiences a malnutrition burden among its under-five population and is behind the developing country average in child stunting.

In the case of Sri Lanka, examination of its GHI indicator values reveals that while the prevalence of undernourishment, child stunting and child mortality have declined moderately, child wasting has gone up.

According to the 2020 GHI report, 7.6% of Sri Lanka’s population is undernourished. It also showed the country recorded a 15.1% of wasting and 17.3% of stunting rate among children under five years. The under-five mortality rate stood at 0.7%.

Among other South Asian countries, India ranked 94th, Nepal 73rd, Bangladesh 75th, Pakistan 88th and Afghanistan 99th.