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Nigeria (Commonwealth) _According to the most recent Global Hunger Index (GHI) study, Nigeria ranks 109th out of 125 nations, with a score of 28.3 points. Nigeria was ranked ahead of just 17 other nations in the GHI, including Zambia, India, and Timor-Leste.
The report stated that Somalia, Burundi, and South Sudan were not listed, with Belarus, China, and the UAE taking the top spots. The GHI, which is intended to comprehensively quantify hunger, takes into account indicators such as malnutrition, stunting, wasting, and child mortality.
The study underlined the multifaceted character of hunger, calling for coordinated efforts to end hunger and drawing attention to regions with the greatest rates of hunger. Nigeria’s issues with food security are highlighted by the GHI rankings, underscoring the necessity of resolving this crucial matter in order to enhance the welfare of the country’s populace.
According to a study posted on the GHI website, Nigeria has fallen six spots in the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI), placing 109th out of 125 nations, indicating the prevalence of hunger in the country. Compared to its 2022 GHI score of 103 out of 121 nations, the country’s hunger level has decreased as indicated by the 2023 ranking.
Nigeria came in lower in 2023 than countries like Guinea, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of December 2023, Nigeria was experiencing record-high inflation, with an overall rate of 28.92 percent and a food inflation rate of 33.93 percent. The spike is caused by the skyrocketing costs of basic food products including fish, milk, cheese, eggs, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, meat, bread, and cereals. To calculate the GHI score for each nation, four indicators were used: undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality. Given the 33.93% food inflation rate, a considerable amount of Nigerians’ income is spent on food.
The federal government issued a state of emergency on food security, but measures to stop food prices from increasing have not yet paid off. Food costs continue to soar month after month due to ongoing inflation. The research emphasized the pressing need for all-encompassing initiatives to combat hunger and malnutrition in Nigeria, highlighting the interrelated issues of food security, inflation, and population well-being.
Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe jointly produce the yearly, peer-reviewed Global Hunger Index, which is intended to track and quantify hunger globally, regionally, and nationally. Every year, GHI scores are computed to evaluate the advancements and regressions in the fight against hunger. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) aims to increase public knowledge and comprehension of the fight against hunger, offer a means of comparing hunger levels across nations and regions, and draw attention to those parts of the world with the highest rates of hunger and the greatest need for further efforts to end hunger. The data and information used to create this nation profile came from the 2023 Global Hunger Index.
The rate of hunger reduction has essentially stopped, and it is still too high globally. With a worldwide GHI score of 18.3, which is deemed moderate, the 2023 score is less than one point lower than the 19.1 global score in 2015. In fact, the number of undernourished individuals worldwide increased from 7.5 percent in 2017 to 9.2 percent in 2022, or around 735 million people.
The COVID-19 epidemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, economic standstill, the repercussions of climate change, and the unsolvable conflicts that many nations across the world are grappling with are just a few of the overlapping issues that have contributed to this stagnation as compared to 2015.When taken as a whole, these problems have driven up living expenses and overwhelmed the ability of many nations, particularly those with high rates of hunger, to cope.
According to the rankings of the report, there are many terminologies used to characterize the varied types of hunger, and the issue is complicated. Generally speaking, hunger refers to the discomfort brought on by insufficient caloric intake.
In a broader sense, malnutrition includes both under nutrition (issues resulting from deficiencies) and over nutrition (issues resulting from imbalanced diets that entail ingesting an excessive amount of calories relative to needs, with or without low consumption of foods rich in micronutrients).
The index based on the four component indicators—undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality—is referred to as “hunger” in this study. When combined, the component signs show both calorie and micronutrient deficits.
