Namibia’s hunger problem ranked moderate

Namibia has been ranked 78th out of 125 countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI), being categorised as a country with a moderate hunger problem.Last year, Namibia was also ranked 78th, but out of 121 countries.The GHI is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional and national levels.The index scores countries on a 100-point &#039;severity scale&#039;, where zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.“With a score of 18, Namibia has a level of hunger that is moderate,” reads the report.This year, Namibia’s score slightly increased from the 18.7 it received last year.However, Namibia has managed to improve its score over the years when it was facing serious hunger problems. In 2000, it scored 26.4; in 2008, it was 29.2; in 2015, it was 22.2; and in 2019, Namibia&#039;s score was 24.3.More hungry citizensIt is projected that the number of people expected to experience food insecurity in Namibia from October to March next year will rise to 695 000 (26% of the population).The index ranks countries based on four key indicators: undernourishment, child mortality, child wasting and child stunting.According to the report, the proportion of undernourished people in Namibia stands at 17.1%. This has decreased from 20.3% in 2016. The prevalence of wasting in children under the age of five years has slightly decreased from 7.1% in 2017 to 5.7%.The prevalence of stunting in children under five has also decreased slightly, from 22.7 in 2017 to 16.6% this year. The under-five mortality rate has decreased from 4.6% in 2015 to 3.9% in 2021.Global pictureThe 2023 GHI shows that, after many years of advancement up to 2015, progress against hunger worldwide remains largely at a standstill.The 2023 GHI score for the world is 18.3, which is considered moderate. However, it is only one point below the world’s 2015 GHI score of 19.1.Globally, the share of people who are undernourished, which is one of the indicators used in the index, actually rose from 7.5% in 2017 to 9.2% in 2022, reaching about 735 million.“South Asia and Africa, south of the Sahara, are the world regions with the highest hunger levels, with GHI scores of 27.0 each, indicating serious hunger.”Meanwhile, Somalia, Burundi and South Sudan have the highest level of hunger in the ranking – all with GHI scores of about 49.9, which is considered extremely alarming.According to the index report, the stagnation in the fight against global hunger is largely due to the combined effects of overlapping crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, economic stagnation, the impacts of climate change, and the intractable conflicts facing many countries in the world. The combination of these crises has led to a cost of living crisis and exhausted the coping capacity of many countries.

Namibia’s hunger problem ranked moderate

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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Namibia’s hunger problem ranked moderate

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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