Sri Lanka still has ‘serious levels’ of hunger although the number of hungry people has declined with its score on the Global Hunger Index improving to the 39th position in 2014. Sri Lanka stood at the 43rd position on the Index last year.

Meanwhile, in neighboring India, the number of hungry people has declined with its score on the Index improving to the 55th position in 2014 due to progress made in addressing underweight in children.

The country's score is better than Pakistan (rank 57) and Bangladesh (57) but it still trails behind Nepal (44) and Sri Lanka (39).

The GHI report has been jointly prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute and NGOs Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.

This year marks the end of a "data drought", the report said, adding that India had determined its first new provisional national underweight estimate in eight years.

At 30.7 per cent, it points to real progress compared with the last estimate of 43.5 per cent in 2005-2006, it said.