Worsening crises have kept the number of hungry people high for three years, warns the UN

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 07. 25. 08:59

Nearly 733 million people were hungry in 2023: one in eleven globally, and one in five in Africa, according to the global report entitled “The State of Food Security and Nutrition” published by five UN specialized agencies.

According to the annual publication, which was published this year as part of the ministerial meeting of the G20 Global Alliance’s Working Group Against Hunger and Poverty in Brazil, we have not come any closer to achieving Sustainable Development Goal No. 2 on ending hunger by 2030. Moreover, in terms of the results, we went back in time about 15 years, as the prevalence of malnutrition is approaching the levels of 2008-2009.

Although progress has been made in terms of stunting and exclusive breastfeeding, an alarmingly large number of the population is starving or suffering from other nutritional problems after three years of exceptionally high hunger levels: last year the number of undernourished was estimated at between 713 and 757 million, the median (733) based on an increase of about 152 million compared to 2019.

The trends of the continents show a significant difference. Hunger continues to rise in Africa (20.4%), it stagnates in Asia (8.1%), but it is still a serious challenge since half of the hungry people live here and is being pushed back to Latin America (6.2%). Between 2022 and 2023, hunger increased in Western Asia, the Caribbean and almost all parts of Africa.