Sri Lanka recorded the lowest hunger score among South Asian countries with available data in the 2026 Global Hunger Index (GHI), according to the report released on 14 October.
The country scored 10.2, placing it 53rd among the 122 countries assessed worldwide.
Nepal had the next lowest score in the region at 14.5, followed by Bangladesh at 19.2, India at 24.1, Pakistan at 25.5 and Afghanistan at 28.6. The report did not assign scores to Bhutan or the Maldives because of insufficient data.
Sri Lanka’s score has moved from 22.1 in 2000 to 19.9 in 2006, 20.8 in 2012, 11.4 in 2018 and 10.2 in 2026. Despite the improvement, the country remains in the moderate hunger category, which indicates that food security and nutrition challenges persist.
The report said 4.9 percent of Sri Lanka’s population is undernourished, 10.1 percent of children under five are stunted and 9.3 percent suffer from wasting. The under-five mortality rate is 0.6 percent.
Globally, the 2026 report warned that hunger has begun rising again after nearly two decades of progress, driven by conflicts, climate shocks and economic crises.
Background
The Global Hunger Index is an annual report that tracks hunger at global, regional and national levels. It scores each country using four indicators: undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality. Lower scores indicate less severe hunger.
Stunting means a child is too short for their age, while wasting means a child is too thin for their height. Both are widely used measures of nutrition in young children.
Under the index’s published scale, a score below 10 is classed as low hunger and a score from 10 to 19.9 as moderate. Sri Lanka’s 10.2 therefore sits just inside the moderate band. Its score of 22.1 in 2000 would have fallen in the higher band the index calls serious.
What it means
The ranking compares Sri Lanka with its neighbours and shows a long-term fall in the index score. The figures on stunting and wasting show that a share of young children in the country are still affected by poor nutrition.
The index is built from the four indicators above. It does not measure food prices or household incomes, so the score is a measure of nutrition outcomes rather than the cost of living.
