Islamabad: Climate shocks, soaring food prices, and chronic underinvestment in nutrition and health have pushed Pakistan deeper into a hunger crisis, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2025 warns, placing the country among those still facing “serious” levels of hunger despite more than two decades of national and global pledges to end malnutrition.
Ranked 106th out of 123 countries, Pakistan’s GHI score stands at 26.0, slightly worse than 25.4 in 2016 shows that the country has failed to make measurable progress in tackling hunger. Its score is higher than that of Bangladesh (19.2), Nepal (14.8), and Sri Lanka (11.2), all of which have achieved steady improvement through targeted nutrition policies, social protection programs, and resilience-building investments.
Only Afghanistan fares worse in the region, with a GHI score of 29.0, reflecting the combined impact of conflict, economic collapse, and aid suspension.
The report paints a distressing picture of Pakistan’s food and nutrition crisis. One in every three children under five is stunted due to chronic undernutrition, while child wasting, a measure of acute malnutrition, has again reached alarming levels.
Child mortality, though improved from earlier decades, remains high compared to regional averages. Experts say these indicators reveal not only the enduring impact of poverty but also the collapse of sustained nutrition governance and the absence of effective safety nets.
Floods, droughts, and erratic weather have battered Pakistan’s food systems over the past few years, wiping out crops, livestock, and livelihoods. The devastating 2022 and 2023 monsoon floods left millions homeless and destroyed farmland across Sindh, Balochistan, and southern Punjab.
Around 11 million people in the flood-affected districts were projected to face crisis-level food insecurity between late 2024 and early 2025. As climate change accelerates, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall are expected to further threaten wheat, rice, and vegetable production, Pakistan’s dietary staples.
The burden of hunger falls disproportionately on women and children, the report points out as malnutrition is linked to nearly half of all under-five deaths in the country. Many pregnant and breastfeeding women lack access to nutritious food and healthcare, while a high prevalence of low-birth-weight infants perpetuates the cycle of poverty and poor health.
In rural communities, mothers often skip meals to feed their children, and the rising prices of flour, pulses, milk, and cooking oil have made even basic meals unaffordable for millions of families.
The report warns that Pakistan’s response remains weak and fragmented. Fiscal constraints have led to deep cuts in nutrition and social welfare programs. Coverage of severe acute malnutrition treatment is alarmingly low, and in many districts, therapeutic food supplies are either unavailable or dependent on short-term donor support. Public spending on nutrition remains far below global standards, with most programs limited to pilot projects or emergency relief interventions rather than sustainable, nationwide initiatives.
Across South Asia, hunger remains serious, but several countries have shown that progress is possible with sustained political commitment and investment. Bangladesh, once among the most food-insecure nations, has improved dramatically, bringing its hunger level down from “serious” to “moderate” through a combination of agricultural diversification, school feeding programs, and women-led community nutrition projects.
Nepal, starting from a worse baseline, has reduced its GHI score by nearly six points since 2016, the steepest decline in the region through constitutional guarantees to the right to food, social safety nets, and improved water and sanitation.
India, by contrast, continues to struggle with widespread child malnutrition despite robust economic growth. Its GHI score of 25.8, close to Pakistan’s, shows that undernutrition persists, with one in three Indian children stunted and one in five wasted.
Afghanistan’s situation remains dire, with one in five children facing crisis-level hunger amid conflict and economic collapse. Sri Lanka, despite its economic crisis, has managed to maintain a relatively low score due to stronger public health coverage and lower child mortality rates.
Globally, the 2025 GHI underscores that the world is drifting further away from the UN’s target of “Zero Hunger” by 2030. The global score has barely improved from 19.0 in 2016 to 18.3 in 2025, reflecting stagnation after years of progress. The report warns that more than 56 countries will not achieve low hunger levels by 2030, and at the current pace, global “low hunger” may not be reached before the year 2137.
Conflicts, economic crises, and climate change are driving this reversal. Wars in Gaza, Sudan, and parts of Africa have pushed millions toward famine, while food prices remain volatile worldwide. At the same time, global humanitarian funding has dropped sharply, down nearly 10 percent in 2024, leaving nutrition programs underfunded and millions without assistance. Military spending, now more than 100 times higher than global humanitarian aid, reflects a dangerous inversion of priorities, the report says.
For Pakistan, the message is unmistakable as hunger is a human-made crisis rooted in policy failure and neglect. The country’s progress has stalled because of weak coordination, underfunded social safety nets, and poor governance. Experts say Pakistan can reverse its hunger trajectory only through sustained investment in climate-resilient agriculture, women’s health, and early childhood nutrition.
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