A review of hunger indices and methods to monitor country commitment to fighting hunger

Edoardo Masset

Food Policy, 2011, vol. 36, issue Supplement 1, S102-S108

Abstract: Several indices measuring hunger and progress in achieving hunger eradication have been proposed in the literature. This paper reviews existing hunger indices and critically assesses their quality against a number of desirable properties. Hunger indices are found to be unsatisfactory in a number of ways: they ignore distributional issues; they neglect the occurrence of food and health shocks; and are sometimes based on unreliable data. Anthropometric measurements, stunting in particular, emerge as powerful indicators of hunger and are ideal for addressing a number of policy relevant issues. The paper also introduces a conceptual framework for an index measuring country commitment to fighting hunger. The constitutive elements of this index are illustrated: political will, anti-hunger policies and programmes. Suggestions are made on how a commitment index can be built and what are the data requirements.

Keywords: Hunger; Index; Food; security; Anthropometry; Commitment; Political; will (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:36:y:2011:i:supplement1:p:s102-s108

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