February 11/Jerusalem/China Business Newsweekly -- "A standardized global nutritional index (GNI) would provide a single statistic for each country according to its overall level of nutrition, which could then guide national policies. Objectives and methods. We have developed a GNI modeled on the human development index (HDI), based on three indicators of nutritional status: deficits, excess, and food security," researchers in Jerusalem, Israel report.
"Calculations were made within four groups of countries (GNI) (32 developed countries, 26 countries in transition, 64 low-mortality developing countries, and 70 high-mortality developing countries) as well as between them -- the Global Nutrition Index World wide (GNIg). Complete data were available for 192 countries. The ranking of the highest and lowest countries in the four groups (with their GNIg values) is as follows: * Developed countries -- Japan 1 (0.989), U.S. 99 (0.806) * Countries in transition -- Estonia 10 (0.943), Tajikistan 173 (0.629) * Low-mortality developing countries -- Republic of Korea 12 (0.939), Nauru 185 (0.565) * High-mortality developing countries -- Algeria 47 (0.876), Sierra Leone 192 (0.420).