India sees decline in undernourishment rate & increase in obesity: UN Report

According to a recent UN report, the number of undernourished people in India declined by 60 million in over a decade. It reduced from 249.4 million (21.7 per cent) in 2004-06 to 189.2 million (14 per cent) in 2017-19.

However, there was a rise in the obesity level as more Indian adults have grown obese between 2012-19 (from 3.1 per cent to 3.9 per cent).

Globally, the number of people affected by hunger rose to 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 46 million since the outbreak of the pandemic, the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 report suggested.

The report also added that people who were unable to afford a healthy diet touched 973.3 million in 2020 up from 948.6 million in 2019. Almost 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2020, reflecting the effects of inflation in consumer food prices and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also watch: How Covid-19 pandemic has complicated India's fight against hunger