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It has been estimated that right now there are approximately 800 million people in the world who are suffering from chronic undernourishment. Despite progress being made on this front, it is still a tough battle to eradicate hunger entirely from the world. However, there is a disparity among nations regarding the Global Hunger Index, with the African nations being the most affected and some even falling in the alarming or serious hunger situation.

According to Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores, the hunger situation was extremely dire in the Central African Republic (CAR). According to the data, CAR has a score of 50.9.

The Global Hunger Index lists the countries from 0 to 100 (0 meaning that there is no hunger, and those with 100 are the most severely affected). However, both of these extreme situations are never reached. Further, the list has been divided into sections. The situation is ‘alarming’ in countries which fall in the range of 35-to-50. The situation is ‘serious’ in countries in the range of 20-to-35. In countries, where the range is from 10-to-20, the situation is considered ‘moderate,’ while the countries having a score that is below 10, reportedly have the fewest number of people suffering from hunger.

The hunger situation in the African nation of Chad was equally alarming as that of the CAR. The second most affected country in the world, Chad had a Global Hunger Index score of 43.5. Other countries where the situation was alarming include; Sierra Leone, Yemen, Madagascar, Sudan, Liberia, and Zambia, where the index score ranged between 35 and 39.

Among the countries where the situation is ‘serious,’ Niger stood at the top. The country’s Global Hunger Index score in 2017 was 34.8, while that in Timor-Leste it was 34.5. Some of the other countries where the situation is serious are; Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, India, Bangladesh and Rwanda to name a few. Guatemala and the Philippines were placed at the bottom of the category where the situation was serious with a score of 20.7 and 20, respectively. However, barring Guatemala, all the other countries in the serious category are located in Asia or Africa.

Nations such as Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Cuba, Ukraine, China, Russia, Malaysia, and many other nations witnessed a very low Global Hunger Index score. In these nations, the score in 2017 stood below 10.

The data provides information on the Global Hunger Index score per country.

Rank Country Global Hunger Index Score 1 Central African Republic 50.9 2 Chad 43.5 3 Sierra Leone 38.5 4 Madagascar 38.3 5 Zambia 38.2 6 Yemen 36.1 7 Sudan 35.5 8 Liberia 35.3 9 Niger 34.5 10 Timor-Leste 34.3 11 Haiti 34.2 12 Zimbabwe 33.8 13 Afghanistan 33.3 14 Pakistan 32.6 15 Angola 32.5 16 Ethiopia 32.3 17 Uganda 32 18 Djibouti 31.4 19 India 31.4 20 Rwanda 31.4 21 Guinea-Bissau 30.6 22 Mozambique 30.5 23 Tanzania 28.8 24 Tajikistan 28.7 25 Guinea 28.6 26 Mali 28.6 27 North Korea 28.2 28 Burkina Faso 27.6 29 Laos 27.5 30 Malawi 27.2 31 Bangladesh 26.5 32 Côte d’Ivoire 26.5 33 Namibia 25.7 34 Democratic Republic of Congo 25.6 35 Nigeria 25.5 36 Sri Lanka 25.5 37 Mauritania 25.2 38 Benin 24.4 39 Botswana 24.4 40 Lesotho 24.1 41 Gambia 23.2 42 Iraq 22.9 43 Myanmar 22.6 44 Togo 22.5 45 Cambodia 22.2 46 Cameroon 22.1 47 Indonesia 22 48 Nepal 22 49 eSwatini 21.2 50 Kenya 21 51 Guatemala 20.7 52 Philippines 20 53 Senegal 18.4 54 Bolivia 17.2 55 Ghana 16.2 56 Vietnam 16 57 Egypt 14.7 58 Ecuador 14.4 59 Honduras 14.3 60 Gabon 13.8 61 Guyana 13.7 62 Nicaragua 13.6 63 Mongolia 13.4 64 Mauritius 13.3 65 South Africa 13.2 66 Uzbekistan 13.1 67 Venezuela 13 68 Turkmenistan 12.2 69 Dominican Republic 11.6 70 Oman 11.3 71 Albania 11.1 72 El Salvador 11.1 73 Paraguay 11 74 Thailand 10.6 75 Malaysia 10.2 76 Morocco 10.2 77 Suriname 9.9 78 Azerbaijan 9.6 79 Algeria 9.5 80 Kyrgyz Republic 9.3 81 Panama 9.2 82 Peru 8.7 83 Fiji 8.1 84 Lebanon 8.1 85 Colombia 8 86 Jamaica 8 87 Armenia 7.7 88 Georgia 7.7 89 Iran 7.6 90 Moldova 7.6 91 China 7.5 92 Tunisia 7.4 93 Saudi Arabia 7.1 94 Trinidad & Tobago 6.9 95 Jordan 6.7 96 Serbia 6.6 97 Mexico 6.5 98 Russian Federation 6.2 99 Kazakhstan 5.8 100 Argentina 5.4 101 Brazil 5.4 102 Bulgaria 5.4 103 Costa Rica 5.3 104 Macedonia 5.3 105 Romania 5.2 106 Belarus <5 107 Bosnia & Herzegovina <5 108 Chile <5 109 Croatia <5 110 Cuba <5 111 Estonia <5 112 Kuwait <5 113 Latvia <5 114 Lithuania <5 115 Montenegro <5 116 Slovak Republic <5 117 Turkey <5 118 Ukraine <5 119 Uruguay <5

Note: GHI scores are not calculated for some high-income countries where the prevalence of hunger is very low.

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