Pakistan Records South Asia’s Worst Hunger Score in the 2026 Global Hunger Index, Rated Serious at 25.5

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has recorded the highest score in South Asia in the 2026 Global Hunger Index, released on Wednesday — in this index, a higher score means a worse hunger situation. Pakistan’s 25.5 points place it in the serious category, above the South Asian regional average of 23.5 and well above the global score of 18.1.

Long-term gains, recent reversal

The longer view is not all bleak. Pakistan’s score stood at 36.2 in 2000, so the journey since then has been one of real improvement. The report’s warning is about what has happened more recently: progress has largely stalled since 2018, and conditions in Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated over that period. Undernourishment in Pakistan has climbed from a low level in 2018 to a medium one, and child wasting — children too thin for their height — has risen toward the high threshold. Child stunting remains very high, even though Pakistan’s rate continues to edge down, and child mortality has fallen to medium levels.

What is driving it

The report points first to the economy. Instability and sharp food-price inflation have eaten into household purchasing power, putting adequate food out of reach for many families. Climate shocks have compounded the squeeze: heavy rains and flooding caused localised crop losses in parts of the country. The pattern is global, too — after nearly two decades of progress, world hunger is rising again, with the global score worsening from 17.6 in 2018 to 18.1.

The index is published jointly by Welthungerhilfe, an institute at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, and the Swiss organisation Helvetas, under a theme arguing that there is no security without food security. Its estimates suggest some 218 million people in South Asia, including Iran, were undernourished between 2023 and 2025 — roughly a third of the global total.