Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published by the United Nations.
The annual report, launched this year in the context of the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty Task Force Ministerial Meeting in Brazil, warns that the world is falling significantly short of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Two which calls for ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2030. The report shows that the world has been set back 15 years, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those in 2008-2009.
Despite some progress in specific areas such as stunting and exclusive breastfeeding, an alarming number of people continue to face food insecurity and malnutrition as global hunger levels have plateaued for three consecutive years, with between 713 and 757 million people undernourished in 2023, approximately 152 million more than in 2019 when considering the mid-range of 733 million.
According to regions, the report shows Africa has the highest number facing hunger estimated at 20.4% and this continues to rise. In Asia hunger levels are estimated at 8.1% whereas Latin America which has made some strides in reducing hunger levels, is estimated to be at 6.2%.
If current trends continue, about 582 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, half of them in Africa, according to the UN. This projection resembles the levels seen in 2015 when the SDGs were adopted, marking a concerning stagnation in progress.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General, QU Dongyu, transforming agri-food systems is key as the world faces the urgency of achieving the SDGs within the remaining six years.
“We must innovate and collaborate to build more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agri-food systems that can better withstand future challenges for a better world.”
The report offers specific data on access to food showing that in 2023, around 2.33 billion people globally faced moderate or severe food insecurity, a number that has not changed significantly since the sharp upturn in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those, over 864 million people experienced severe food insecurity, going without food for an entire day or more at times.
This number has remained high since 2020. Only Latin America shows improvement but in Africa, 58 percent of the population is currently moderately or severely food insecure.
Experts at the UN say that in many areas, there is a lack of economic access to healthy diets as over 2.8 billion people were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2022. This disparity is most pronounced in low-income countries, where 71.5 percent of the population cannot afford a healthy diet, compared to 6.3 percent in high-income countries.
Commenting on the report, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says though the picture is grim, progress made in reducing nutrition-related problems such as stunting and improving exclusive breastfeeding globally shows challenges faced are not insurmountable.
“We must use those gains as motivation to alleviate the suffering that millions of people around the world endure every day from hunger, food insecurity, unhealthy diets, and malnutrition. The substantial investment required in healthy, safe, and sustainably produced food is far less than the costs to economies and societies if we do nothing.”
Data shows exclusive breastfeeding rates among infants currently stand at 48% and low birthweight prevalence has stagnated around 15%. Stunting among children under five has declined to 22.3% from the high of 29%.
-URN