Telling numbers: More obesity in India and world, but global count of hungry rising

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019 report, released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), estimated that 820 million people worldwide did not have enough to eat in 2018, up from 811 million in the previous year. At the same time, the number of overweight individuals and obesity continue to increase in all regions, the report said.

The report has a section on economic growth in China and India, and its effect on poverty. Between 1990 and 2017, the two countries had an average GDP per capita growth rate of 8.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively, the report said, citing World Bank figures.

In both countries, the increase in GDP per capita has been accompanied by poverty reduction. While China’s poverty rate declined from 88 per cent in 1981 to 0.7 per cent in 2015, India’s poverty reduction appeared to be relatively more modest, moving from 48.9 per cent in 1987 to 21.2 per cent in 2011, or to 13.4 per cent in 2015 if another World Bank source is used, the report said.