Pakistan has ranked 106th out of 122 countries in the 2026 Global Hunger Index, reflecting worsening food insecurity amid economic instability, prolonged food price inflation and climate-related disruptions. The country recorded a hunger score of 25.5, placing it in the serious hunger category and behind India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. According to the report, Pakistan’s score increased from 24.0 in 2018, representing a deterioration of approximately 6.3%. The findings highlight continuing challenges in ensuring access to adequate nutrition, particularly for vulnerable households facing rising living costs and disruptions to agricultural production. Although Pakistan has made longer-term progress in some nutrition and child survival indicators, the latest assessment points to setbacks in undernourishment and child wasting.
The rankings place Pakistan behind several neighbouring South Asian countries. India ranked 100th with a hunger score of 24.1, while Bangladesh stood at 84th with a score of 19.2. Nepal ranked 72nd with a score of 14.5, and Sri Lanka placed 53rd with a score of 10.2. The scores for Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka fall within the moderate hunger category, while India and Pakistan remain in the serious category. Afghanistan ranked 108th with a score of 28.6. The report identifies Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only South Asian countries where hunger scores have deteriorated since 2018, highlighting the difficulties these countries face in improving food security amid economic and environmental pressures.
Pakistan’s nutrition indicators show a mixed picture. The undernourishment rate increased from 10.9% in 2018 to 16.1% in 2026, indicating that a larger proportion of the population is experiencing inadequate access to dietary energy. Child wasting, which measures low weight relative to height and can indicate acute malnutrition, rose from 7.1% to 9.8% over the same period. However, the country recorded improvements in two other indicators. Child stunting, which reflects impaired growth associated with prolonged undernutrition and other factors, declined from 38.1% to 33.6%. The under-five mortality rate also decreased from 6.8% to 5.6%. These changes suggest that progress in child survival and some aspects of nutrition has continued, even as other measures of food insecurity have worsened.
The report attributes Pakistan’s deteriorating hunger score partly to economic instability and the lingering effects of sharp food price increases. When food prices rise faster than household incomes, families can struggle to afford sufficient quantities of nutritious food. Lower-income households are particularly exposed because food accounts for a substantial share of their daily expenditure. Economic uncertainty can also affect agricultural investment, employment and the ability of families to maintain consistent access to essential goods. Climate-related disruptions add further pressure by damaging crops, affecting transport networks and interrupting food distribution. These factors can combine to reduce both the availability and affordability of food, making it more difficult for vulnerable communities to maintain adequate nutrition.
Climate shocks have emerged as another important factor affecting Pakistan’s food security. The Global Hunger Index report notes that heavy monsoon rains and flash floods in 2025 affected more than six million people, damaging agricultural land and infrastructure. Flood-related losses can disrupt crop production, destroy household assets and interrupt the movement of agricultural products from farms to markets. Damage to roads and other infrastructure can also increase transportation costs and delay deliveries. For farming communities, the consequences may extend beyond immediate crop losses, as damaged land, equipment and livelihoods can take time to recover. Such disruptions can place additional pressure on food supplies and household purchasing power, particularly in areas already facing economic difficulties.
Despite the recent deterioration, Pakistan’s hunger score remains below its 2000 level of 36.2, indicating that the country has achieved longer-term improvements in some aspects of nutrition and child survival. However, the report suggests that maintaining progress has become more difficult in recent years. The increase in undernourishment and child wasting highlights the need to address both immediate food access challenges and the underlying conditions affecting nutrition. Measures supporting agricultural productivity, resilient infrastructure, household purchasing power and access to essential nutrition services could help reduce exposure to future economic and climate-related shocks. The findings also underline the importance of ensuring that improvements in economic indicators translate into better living conditions for vulnerable communities.
At the regional level, South Asia recorded a Global Hunger Index score of 23.5, making it the second-highest regional level globally after Africa south of the Sahara, which recorded 27.5. Both regions fall within the serious hunger category. South Asia’s score has improved from 37.5 in 2000, although the report notes that much of the progress occurred before 2018. The region’s child wasting rate reached 15.8%, the highest among the regions assessed, while child stunting stood at 29.8%. The report estimates that 218 million people in South Asia, including Iran for this particular regional estimate, experienced undernourishment during 2023–2025. This represents approximately one-third of the global total.
Globally, the hunger score increased from 17.6 in 2018 to 18.1 in 2026, reversing some of the progress recorded in earlier years. The report estimates that 645 million people worldwide were undernourished in 2025, highlighting the continuing scale of the challenge. The 2026 Global Hunger Index was published by Welthungerhilfe, the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, and Helvetas. It assesses hunger through four indicators: undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality. The index draws on data covering different periods between 2021 and 2025 rather than measuring conditions exclusively in 2026. For Pakistan, the latest findings highlight the need for sustained efforts to improve food affordability, strengthen agricultural resilience and address the nutritional needs of children and vulnerable households.
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