Sri Lanka fared better than India and Pakistan in the Global Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Sri Lanka was ranked 39th, ahead of India (67), Pakistan (52) and Nepal (56). China, an emerging superpower, was ranked 9th.

The index rated 84 countries on the basis of three key indicators —prevalence of child malnutrition, rate of child mortality and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.

“In South Asia, the low nutritional, educational, and social status of women is among the major factors that contribute to a high prevalence of underweight in children under five,” the report said.

It also raises concern about the prevalence of poverty in South India, including India which has been achieving remarkable economic growths in recent years.

“The economic performance and hunger levels are inversely correlated. In South and South East Asia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Timor-Leste are among countries with hunger levels considerably higher than their gross national income per capita,” the IFPRI report said.

“The 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows some improvement over the 1990 GHI, falling from 19.8 points to 15.1 or by almost one-quarter. The index for hunger in the world, however, remains serious,” it noted.

In 2009, on the heels of a global food price crisis and in the midst of recession, the number of undernourished people surpassed one billion, although recent estimates by the UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation suggest that the number will have dropped to 925 million in 2010.