Sri Lanka still has ‘serious levels’ of hunger and stood at the 43 position on the Global Hunger Index 2013.

The number of hungry people has dropped in India with its score on the Global Hunger Index improving to 63rd position in 2013, but the country still lags behind China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

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

On the GHI, China scored 6th position with moderate level of hunger, while Sri Lanka was at 43, Pakistan at 57 and Bangladesh at 58, having 'serious' levels of hunger.

The report observed that South Asia has the maximum number of hungry people in the world followed by Sahara region, even as the global hunger is decreasing.

"Social inequality and the low nutritional, educational, and social status of women are major causes of child under- nutrition in this (South Asian) region that have impeded improvements in the GHI score," it said.

As far as global hunger levels are concerned, the report said that the world score on GHI has fallen by 34 per cent this year from the 1990 level, but hunger levels still remains "serious" with 19 countries suffering from either alarming or extremely alarming levels of hunger.

The Index identifies hunger levels across 120 developing countries and its scores are based on three equally weighted indicators: proportion of people undernourished, proportion of children under five underweight, and mortality rate of children under five.