The world has made little progress in combating global hunger as conflict, extreme weather and economic challenges restrict people’s access to food, according to the United Nations.
About 733 million people — or 9.1% of the global population — were undernourished in 2023, little changed for a third straight year, UN agencies said in a report Wednesday. That’s still 152 million more than in 2019, putting the world off track to reach key goals, including zero hunger, by the end of this decade.
“While we have made some progress, improvements have been uneven and insufficient,” the UN said in the annual flagship study. “Vulnerable populations, particularly women, youth and indigenous peoples, are disproportionately affected.”
While hunger is still on the rise in Africa, it has remained relatively unchanged in Asia, according to the report. Latin America and the Caribbean have made notable progress in securing regular access to adequate food.
More than 20% of people in Africa faced hunger last year, the largest proportion of the population among all regions. That compares with 8.1percent in Asia and 6.2% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Still, Asia remains home to more than half of all those dealing with hunger.
About 2.8 billion people — roughly a third of the world’s population — couldn’t afford a healthy diet in 2022, the latest year available for that particular metric, the UN said. Some improvements have been made in child and maternal nutrition. This includes lower rates of stunted growth and higher numbers of mothers who exclusively breastfed infants.
However, rising trends in adult obesity, and anemia among women aged 15-49 are worrying, the UN said. Increasing women’s access to financial services would help improve food security and nutrition for households and communities, it added.
Overall, the number of undernourished people globally — defined as those regularly without enough calories to lead a normal and healthy life — is a midrange of estimates between 713 million and 757 million people.
The UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report was jointly produced by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Food Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Unicef and the World Health Organization. —Bloomberg
