Pakistan worst hit by hunger in South Asia

• Economic instability erodes household purchasing power; heavy rains, floods trigger acute crop losses • ​South Asia remains in the ‘serious’ category; ​global hunger rises after two decades ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded the highest score in South Asia on the 2026 Global Hunger Index released on Wednesday, reflecting a worsening food security crisis driven by economic instability, climate shocks and global conflicts. Published jointly by Welthungerhilfe, the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict at Ruhr University Bochum, and the Swiss organisation Helvetas under the theme “No Security Without Food Security”, the report reveals that progress in South Asia has largely stagnated, with conditions in Pakistan and Afghanistan deteriorating since 2018.

In Pakistan, economic instability and sharp food price inflation have eroded households’ purchasing power and constrained access to food. Undernourishment in the country has climbed from low in 2018 to medium, while child wasting has risen toward the high threshold. Across South Asia, the situation remains serious with a regional score of 23. 5. Although the region’s score has fallen substantially from an alarming 37. 5 in 2000, most of that progress occurred before 2018. While Pakistan and Afghanistan have moved from the alarming to the serious category since 2000, child stunting remains very high. Pakistan’s stunting rate continues to fall, whereas Afghanistan’s has edged up since 2018. Child mortality rates in both nations have declined from very high levels in 2000 to medium levels today. The report warned that high levels of acute food insecurity will persist across the region. Heavy rains and flooding caused localised crop losses in parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh, while below-average rainfall and…