Challenges to Attaining the <scp>SDG</scp> 2 (Zero Hunger) and Future Projections: The Criticality of Types of Corruption, Human Rights, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Selected Asian Countries

ABSTRACT By the mid‐21st century, the global economic system had not yet fully solved the problem of hunger. Therefore, achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is crucial. This study therefore aims to examine the factors that may lead to hunger in seven selected Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and Timor‐Leste) between 2002 and 2022. In this context, Panel‐robust estimation results have shown that rising executive corruption is a major driver of hunger. However, remarkably, hunger decreases when public sector corruption (PC) and judicial corruption (JC) boost. Another important finding is that progress in gross domestic product (GDP), human rights, and democracy play a significant role in reducing hunger. Conversely, as expected, population growth and rising greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) were found to be other factors that trigger hunger. Ridge regression results supported the other findings and also revealed that a decrease in legislative corruption (LC) triggered hunger. The results of the interaction terms indicated that an increase in Publiccorruption × Humanrights , Publiccorruption × Democracy , Executivecorruption × Humanrights and Executivecorruption × Democracy led to a reduction in hunger, while a rise in Legislativecorruption × Humanrights and Legislativecorruption × Democracy led to an increase in hunger. These results are important for policymakers, governments and countries aiming to achieve SDG 2, as they can inform policy design and proactive interventions utilizing empirical findings.