Countries

Overview

Nearly 50 percent of the world's hungry live in India, a low-income, food-deficit country.

Around 35 percent of India's population - 350 million - are considered food-insecure, consuming less than 80 percent of minimum energy requirements.

Nutritional and health indicators are extremely low. Nearly nine out of 10 pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years suffer from malnutrition and anaemia.

Anaemia in pregnant women causes 20 percent of infant mortality. More than half of the children under five are moderately or severely malnourished, or suffer from stunting.

WFP Activities

The objectives of WFP's Country Programme in India are to:

• Combat malnutrition and invest in human resources;
• Help improve immediate food security for selected target groups;
• Maximize the active participation of women in projects;
• Advocate joint forest management;
• Help strengthen distribution channels for locally-produced food grains;
• Increase agricultural production and create employment.

Specific beneficiaries include poor women (especially mothers), at-risk children, and poor forest-dependent populations.