Key Takeaways
- Pakistan's hunger score is 25.5 out of 100, ranking 106th among 122 countries.
- The country's undernourishment rate is 16.1%, with 33.6% of children under five stunted.
- Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods in 2025 affected over six million people, exacerbating food insecurity.
Pakistan has been ranked the second-worst country in South Asia for hunger, according to the 2026 Global Hunger Index (GHI), which classifies the country's hunger as 'serious'.
The report, which covers the period from 2021 to 2025, shows that Pakistan scored 25.5 out of 100, ranking 106th among 122 countries with sufficient data. This score is a significant improvement from 36.2 in 2000 but has worsened from 24.0 in 2018 to 25.5 in 2026.
Among the alarming figures, 16.1% of the population in Pakistan does not receive enough calories, and 33.6% of children under five are stunted, reflecting chronic undernutrition. Additionally, 9.8% of children under five suffer from wasting, an indicator of acute undernutrition, and the under-five mortality rate stands at 5.6%.
Economic instability, the impact of sharp food price increases, and climate-related shocks, particularly heavy monsoon rains and flash floods in 2025, have significantly affected food security. These events displaced over six million people and damaged farmland and infrastructure, further constraining access to food.
South Asia as a whole recorded a GHI score of 23.5, the second-highest regional level after sub-Saharan Africa, which scored 27.5. Afghanistan, the only other South Asian country with worsening hunger, scored 28.6. India and Bangladesh had scores of 24.1 and 19.2, respectively, while Nepal and Sri Lanka recorded scores of 14.5 and 10.2, respectively.
The report estimates that 218 million people in South Asia, including Iran, were undernourished during 2023–2025, representing roughly one-third of the global total. While the region has made substantial progress since 2000, much of the improvement occurred before 2018. Since then, undernourishment has remained largely unchanged, while child wasting has worsened to 15.8%, the highest regional rate worldwide.
Globally, the GHI score rose to 18.1 in 2026 from 17.6 in 2018, reversing part of the progress made since 2000, when the score stood at 28.2. The report attributes the deterioration to overlapping conflicts, climate extremes, economic shocks, and disruptions to global food and agricultural supply chains. Hunger has worsened in 32 countries since 2018, while 36 countries face serious levels of hunger and eight have alarming levels.
The report warns that conflict, rising food and transport costs, extreme weather, and reduced humanitarian funding are putting further pressure on food systems. It also cautions that an intensifying El Niño could worsen food and nutrition security in vulnerable regions.
