Rising incomes and lower food prices will lift tens of millions of people out of food insecurity in the coming decade, said a government forecast. The insecurity rate, now one-in-six people globally, would shrink to one-in-17, with Asia seeing the greatest improvement.
“Given projections for lower food prices and rising incomes, food security … is expected to improve through 2026,” said the report. “The share of the population that is food-insecure is projected to fall from 17 percent in 2016 to 6 percent in 2026. The number of food-insecure people is projected to fall markedly, (by) 59 percent, to 251 million in 2026.”
For the annual International Food Security Assessment report, USDA examined 76 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Asia has the largest number of food insecure people, more than 300 million, while sub-Saharan Africa has the highest insecurity rate, nearly 30 percent. Food insecurity was defined as the gap between likely consumption levels and the target of at 2,100 calories a day per person.
Food prices spiked nearly a decade ago when harvests ran short around the world, forcing global attention on hunger and food supplies.