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Provisional Severity Designations for Countries with Incomplete Data

In this year’s GHI report, 136 countries met the criteria for inclusion in the GHI, but 11 had insufficient data to allow for calculation of a 2023 GHI score. To address this gap and give a preliminary picture of hunger in the countries with missing data, provisional designations of the severity of hunger were determined based on several known factors (see Table below):

  • those GHI indicator values that are available,
  • the country’s last known GHI severity designation,
  • the country’s last known prevalence of undernourishment,
  • the prevalence of undernourishment for the subregion in which the country is located, and/or
  • assessment of the relevant findings of the 2021, 2022, and 2023 editions of the Global Report on Food Crises (FSIN and GNAFC 2021, 2022, 2023).

For some countries, data are missing because of violent conflict or political unrest (FAO et al. 2017; Martin-Shields and Stojetz 2019), which are strong predictors of hunger and undernutrition. The countries with missing data may often be those facing the greatest hunger burdens. Of the three countries provisionally designated as alarming—Burundi, Somalia, and South Sudan—it is possible that with complete data, one or more of them would fall into the extremely alarming category. However, without sufficient information to confirm that this is the case, we have conservatively categorized each of these countries as alarming.

In some cases even a provisional severity designation could not be determined, such as if the country had never previously had a prevalence of undernourishment value, GHI score, or GHI designation since the first GHI report was published in 2006. In the cases of Somalia and South Sudan, data were unavailable for two out of four GHI indicators. However, a review of the relevant information in the 2021, 2022, and 2023 editions of the Global Report on Food Crises as well as consultations with experts on food and nutrition insecurity in these two countries made clear that designations of alarming were justified.

2023 GHI Countries by Hunger Severity Designation


EXISTING DATA AND PROVISIONAL SEVERITY DESIGNATIONS FOR COUNTRIES WITH INCOMPLETE DATA

Country 2023 GHI provisional severity designation Child stunting, 2018–2022 (%) Child wasting, 2018–2022 (%) Child mortality, 2021 (%) Last GHI categorization Last prevalence of undernourishment value (%) Subregional prevalence of undernourishment (%) Range of prevalence of undernourishment values for provisional designation (%)
Lebanon Low 7.0 7.0 1.4 0.8 Moderate (2022) 10.9 (2022) 10.5 0.0–16.2
Jordan Moderate 7.4 7.4 0.6 1.5 Moderate (2022) 16.9 (2022) 10.5 15.4–39.4
Burundi Alarming 55.8 55.8 4.9 5.3 Extremely alarming (2014) 67.3 (2014) 28.4 33.3–69.3
Somalia Alarming 99 — — 11.2 Extremely alarming (2021) 48.7 (2023) 28.4 **
South Sudan Alarming 100 — — 9.9 — 21.4 (2023) 28.4 **
Bahrain Not designated 3.1 3.1* 1.8* 0.7 — — 10.5 N/A
Bhutan Not designated 18.3* 2.6* 2.7 — — 15.9 N/A
Equatorial Guinea Not designated 25.2 25.2 3.9 7.7 — — 28.4 N/A
Eritrea Not designated 98 — — 3.8 Extremely alarming (2014) 61.3 (2014) 28.4 N/A
Maldives Not designated 15.3 15.3 9.3 0.6 — — 15.9 N/A
Qatar Not designated 1.9 1.9 1.2 0.5 — — 10.5 N/A
Source: Authors, based on sources listed in Methodology and previous GHI publications included in the bibliography.
Note: Years in parentheses show when the relevant information was published in the GHI report.
*Authors’ estimate. **Designation based on FSIN and GNAFC (2021, 2022, 2023) and expert consultation.
N/A = not applicable; — = not available.

Footnotes

  1. Previously published undernourishment values, GHI scores, and GHI severity classifications are not considered valid once superseding reports have been issued, but are used as benchmarks to consider the plausibility of a country falling into a broad range of undernourishment values and GHI scores.  
  2. The Global Reports on Food Crises report on acute food insecurity, which is different from chronic hunger as measured by the prevalence of undernourishment. However, the 2021, 2022, and 2023 GRFCs were used to confirm whether a country experienced extreme hunger crises such as famine, threat of famine, and/or repeated hunger crises in 2020, 2021, and 2022.