UN-FAO Report: Hunger in India Decreased to 13.7% During the 2021–23 Period

In a positive development, hunger in India, measured by the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), decreased from 16.6% of the population in 2020–2022 to 13.7% in 2021–2023, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI 2024) report.

As a result, over the two periods, about 39.3 million people have come out of malnutrition, according to NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand’s Tuesday statement.

Chand spoke to a small number of reporters outside a press conference to announce the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists, which will take place in Delhi starting on August 2.

Attending more than 700 delegates from around the globe, the conference is being held after nearly 60 years and will cover all current topics about agriculture, such as the growing cost of subsidies, climate change, and expanding nutritional challenges.

Chand, meanwhile, stated that the debate over whether hunger, as determined by the prevalence of malnourishment, has increased in India after COVID has been resolved is also resolved by the most recent conclusions of the UN-FAO study, which is based on updated data provided by the central government.

The UN-FAO’s SOFI 2023, which revealed that PoU in India has increased post-Covid from 14% of the population in 2017–19 to 16.6% of the population in 2020–22, was harshly attacked by the central government back in October of last year (see chart).

The government then stated that the FAO estimate is based on the “Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)” survey, which is essentially an “opinion poll” consisting of eight items and a sample size of “3,000 respondents” and was carried out through the Gallop World Poll.

“The data collected from a very small sample size for a country as large as India through FIES has been used to calculate the PoU value for India. This is not only incorrect and unethical, but it also shows clear bias,” an official statement said.

According to the statement, FAO was requested not to utilize estimates based on FIES survey data because of these issues.