World’s hungriest countries – ranked

A global ranking of the world’s hungriest countries, using the latest report from the Global Hunger Index.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is an annual report produced to measure hunger around the world.

The report creates GHI scores for 107 countries, based on a formula that captures three dimensions of hunger: insufficient caloric intake, child undernutrition and child mortality.

This measured using four key indicators:

• Undernourishment: the share of the population that is undernourished, reflecting insufficient caloric intake.
• Child wasting: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (low weight-for-height), reflecting acute undernutrition.
• Child stunting: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (low height-for-age), reflecting chronic undernutrition.
• Child mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five.

Data for these indicators is sourced from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the World Bank, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).

Each country’s GHI score is converted into a classification that reflects the level of hunger the population is suffering from.

GHI Severity Scale

• ≤ 9.9: low
• 10.0–19.9: moderate
• 20.0–34.9: serious
• 35.0–49.9: alarming
• ≥ 50.0: extremely alarming

Key findings from the report

• Worldwide hunger is at a moderate level.
• Chad is the world’s hungriest country in 2020.
• Nearly 690 million people are undernourished.
• 144 million children suffer from stunting, a sign of chronic undernutrition.
• 47 million children suffer from wasting, a sign of acute undernutrition.
• Extreme climatic events, violent conflicts, wars and economic slowdowns and crises continue to drive hunger in many parts of the world.
• Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the highest regional 2019 GHI scores in the world, at 29.3 and 28.4, respectively.
• No countries (zero) are suffering from extremely alarming levels of hunger, compared to four in 2019.
• Three countries are suffering from alarming levels of hunger – Chad, Timor-Leste, and Madagascar.
• However, there are a further eight countries with insufficient data – Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, DR Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen – who are also likely to be suffering from alarming levels of hunger.
• Another 31 countries considered to be suffering from serious levels of hunger.

World’s hungriest countries – complete ranking

The table below ranks the world’s hungriest countries according to the GHI Severity Scale.

17 countries had GHI scores less than five. They collectively ranked 101–117 as differences between their scores were minimal.

GHI scores were not calculated for countries with insufficient data, high-income countries, countries with small populations and non-independent territories.

Rank	Country	2000	2006	2012	2020
1	Chad	50.9	51.3	47.9	44.7
2	Timor-Leste	—	46.1	36.2	37.6
3	Madagascar	42.7	41.4	34.6	36
4	Haiti	41.9	43.6	35.9	33.5
5	Mozambique	48.1	38.4	31.4	33.1
6	Liberia	48	40	33.1	31.4
7	Sierra Leone	58.3	53.3	42.4	30.9
8	Lesotho	36	30.4	24.6	30.7
9	Afghanistan	51	42.8	33.8	30.3
10	Nigeria	40.6	34.1	32	29.2
11	Rwanda	49.7	38.1	26	28.3
12	North Korea	39.5	33.1	28.2	27.5
13	India	38.9	37.5	29.3	27.2
14	Sudan	—	—	32.5	27.2
15	Angola	64.9	47	35.9	26.8
16	Ethiopia	53.7	43.6	35.5	26.2
17	Congo	33.8	34.7	27.8	26
18	Burkina Faso	45.7	46.3	31.1	25.8
19	Tanzania	40.8	33.6	30	25
20	Pakistan	37.2	33.5	32.8	24.6
21	Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	33.6	34.7	30.1	24.5
22	Togo	39.3	36.7	26.6	24.1
23	Mauritania	32	29	23.7	24
24	Kenya	37.4	31.4	23.2	23.7
25	Venezuela	14.7	11.2	7.6	23.5
26	Mali	41.9	37	31.3	22.9
27	Botswana	28.20	27.3	22.4	22.6
28	Malawi	43.20	33.8	27.1	22.6
29	Benin	34.10	28.7	24.2	22.4
30	Myanmar	39.80	31.8	23.3	20.9
31	Guatemala	28.50	24.6	22.2	20.7
32	Cambodia	41.20	27.2	24.9	20.6
33	Bangladesh	34.10	29	27.8	20.4
34	Eswatini	26.10	24.1	17.8	20.3
35	Nepal	37.40	31	22.8	19.5
36	Cameroon	36.40	31	23.2	19.1
37	Indonesia	26.10	29.5	23.1	19.1
38	Namibia	25.30	24.7	23.9	19.1
39	Philippines	25.00	20.4	20.4	19
40	Gabon	21.10	20.4	18.8	18.2
41	Gambia	29.20	28	22.7	17.8
42	Iraq	24.00	24	21.1	17.1
43	Senegal	34.30	24.4	18	17.1
44	Sri Lanka	21.90	19.5	20.1	16.3
45	Ghana	28.50	22.2	17.9	15.2
46	Bolivia	27.60	23.2	16.8	14
47	Vietnam	26.30	21.9	16.5	13.6
48	South Africa	18.40	19.4	15.3	13.5
49	Malaysia	15.50	13.3	11.8	13.3
50	Nicaragua	22.30	17.1	14.6	13.2
51	Honduras	21.90	19.7	16.9	13.1
52	Mongolia	30.10	23.1	12.7	13.1
53	Oman	14.80	16	11.6	12.2
54	Egypt	16.40	14.4	15.3	11.9
55	Guyana	17.30	15.8	12.2	11.1
56	Turkmenistan	21.20	16.6	13.6	11.1
57	Ecuador	19.70	19	16.3	11
58	El Salvador	14.70	12.1	10.4	10.5
59	Suriname	15.50	11.7	10.5	10.2
60	Thailand	17.80	12.3	12.7	10.2
61	Mauritius	15.00	13.6	12.3	9.3
62	Algeria	14.50	11.7	9	9
63	Lebanon	11.60	13.3	12.4	8.9
64	Morocco	15.50	17.5	9.6	8.9
65	Jordan	10.80	8.1	8.6	8.8
66	Kyrgyzstan	18.40	13.9	11.7	8.4
67	Jamaica	8.60	9	9.2	8.1
68	Fiji	9.60	9.1	8.1	8
69	Iran	13.50	8.9	7.6	7.9
70	Mexico	10.10	8.4	7.4	7.7
71	Colombia	10.90	11.5	9.1	7.5
72	Paraguay	12.10	11.6	9.6	7.5
73	Saudi Arabia	11.10	12.2	8.2	7.5
74	Peru	20.80	16.5	8.9	7.3
75	Panama	18.50	15	9.8	7.2
76	Dominican Rep.	15.20	13.9	10.3	7.1
77	Armenia	19.40	13.4	10.4	6.9
78	Uzbekistan	24.40	16.9	12.7	6.7
79	Serbia	—	6.1	5.3	6.6
80	Trinidad & Tob.	11.10	11.4	10.8	6.6
81	Slovakia	6.50	5.9	<5	6.4
82	Georgia	12.30	8.9	<5	6.1
83	Azerbaijan	25.00	16	10.6	6
84	Albania	20.70	15.8	8.5	5.9
85	Tunisia	10.30	7.8	7	5.7
86	Bulgaria	8.20	7.3	7.8	5.5
87	Kazakhstan	11.40	12.3	8.1	5.4
88	Argentina	6.30	5.6	5.2	5.3
89	North Macedonia	7.50	7.7	6.7	5.2
90	Russia	10.00	6.8	6	5.2
–	Belarus	<5	<5	<5	<5
–	Bosnia & Herz.	9.30	6.7	<5	<5
–	Brazil	11.30	6.3	<5	<5
–	Chile	<5	<5	<5	<5
–	China	13.60	9.5	<5	<5
–	Costa Rica	6.10	<5	<5	<5
–	Croatia	<5	<5	<5	<5
–	Cuba	<5	<5	<5	<5
–	Estonia	5.90	<5	<5	<5
–	Kuwait	<5	<5	<5	<5
–	Latvia	7.00	<5	<5	<5
–	Lithuania	6.10	<5	<5	<5
–	Montenegro	—	5.5	<5	<5
–	Romania	8.00	5.5	<5	<5
–	Turkey	10.10	6.3	<5	<5
–	Ukraine	13.00	<5	<5	<5
–	Uruguay	7.50	6.8	5	<5

Global Hunger Index – Most Recent Rankings (2023)

Rank	Country	2023
1	Somalia	35-49.9
2	Burundi	35-49.9
3	South Sudan	35-49.9
4	Central African Republic	42.3
5	Madagascar	41.0
6	Yemen	39.9
7	Democratic Republic of the Congo	35.7
8	Lesotho	35.5
9	Niger	35.1
10	Chad	34.6
11	Guinea-Bissau	33.0
12	Liberia	32.2
13	Sierra Leone	31.3
14	Haiti	31.1
15	Afghanistan	30.6
16	Mozambique	30.5
17	Timor-Leste	29.9
18	India	28.7
19	Zambia	28.5
20	Nigeria	28.3
21	Congo (Republic of)	28.0
22	Zimbabwe	28.0
23	DPR Korea	27.8
24	Papua New Guinea	27.4
25	Guinea	27.1
26	Sudan	27.0
27	Pakistan	26.6
28	Ethiopia	26.2
29	Syrian Arab Republic	26.1
30	Angola	25.9
31	Mali	25.6
32	Burkina Faso	25.5
33	Rwanda	25.4
34	Uganda	25.2
35	Tanzania (United Republic of)	23.2
36	Djibouti	23.0
37	Comoros	22.7
38	Benin	22.6
39	Kenya	22.0
40	Malawi	21.1
41	Togo	21.1
42	Mauritania	21.0
43	Côte d’Ivoire	20.6
44	Jordan	19.9
45	Botswana	19.9
46	Gambia	19.7
47	Solomon Islands	19.6
48	Guatemala	19.1
49	Bangladesh	19.0
50	Gabon	18.7
51	Honduras	13.1
52	Mongolia	13.1
53	Oman	12.2
54	Egypt	11.9
55	Guyana	11.1
56	Turkmenistan	11.1
57	Ecuador	11
58	El Salvador	10.5
59	Suriname	10.2
60	Thailand	10.2
61	Mauritius	9.3
62	Algeria	9
63	Lebanon	8.9
64	Morocco	8.9
65	Jordan	8.8
66	Kyrgyzstan	8.4
67	Jamaica	8.1
68	Fiji	8
69	Iran	7.9
70	Mexico	7.7
71	Colombia	7.5
72	Paraguay	7.5
73	Saudi Arabia	7.5
74	Peru	7.3
75	Panama	7.2
76	Dominican Rep.	7.1
77	Armenia	6.9
78	Uzbekistan	6.7
79	Serbia	6.6
80	Trinidad & Tob.	6.6
81	Slovakia	6.4
82	Georgia	6.1
83	Azerbaijan	6
84	Albania	5.9
85	Tunisia	5.7
86	Bulgaria	5.5
87	Kazakhstan	5.4
88	Argentina	5.3
89	North Macedonia	5.2
90	Russia	5.2
–	Belarus	<5
–	Bosnia & Herz.	<5
–	Brazil	<5
–	Chile	<5
–	China	<5
–	Costa Rica	<5
–	Croatia	<5
–	Cuba	<5
–	Estonia	<5
–	Kuwait	<5
–	Latvia	<5
–	Lithuania	<5
–	Montenegro	<5
–	Romania	<5
–	Turkey	<5
–	Ukraine	<5
–	Uruguay	<5

Source: Global Hunger Index