Eleven percent of the world’s population, or 815 million people, are undernourished, an increase of 38 million from a year earlier “largely due to the proliferation of violent conflicts and climate-related shocks,” says an annual UN report on hunger. “At the same time, obesity and other forms of malnutrition threaten the health of millions of people.”
The global hunger rate stood at 14.9 percent of the population, or 947 million people, in 2003 before a steady decline to 10.8 percent in 2014 and 10.6 percent in 2015, followed by the upturn to 11 percent in 2016. “This sobering news comes in a year in which famine struck in parts of South Sudan for several months in 2017 and food insecurity situations at risk of turning into famines were identified in other conflict-affected countries, namely Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen,” said a digest of the report, produced by five UN agencies.
The report on global hunger was the first since the UN set a goal of eradicating hunger by 2030. UN agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, have cited the role of warfare in hunger. According to the new UN report, 60 percent of the world’s hungry people “live in countries affected by conflict,” some 489 million people. But even in regions that are more peaceful, droughts or floods linked in part to the El Niño weather phenomenon, as well as the global economic slowdown, have also seen food security and nutrition deteriorate, said the report.
The hunger rate is highest in Africa at 20 percent but the largest number of hungry people, 520 million, are in Asia.
David Beckmann, head of the antihunger group Bread for the World, said the report showed remarkable progress since the turn of the century against undernutrition but “this report raises the alarm that conflict and climate change stand in the way of ending hunger within our lifetimes … Clearly, this is not the time for Congress to cut the foreign aid budget.” Bread for the World says famine and near famine conditions threaten at least 20 million people.
One-fifth of the world’s children suffer from stunted growth, “increasing their risk of suffering impaired cognitive ability, weakened performance at school and work, and dying from infections,” said the UN report. Even so, the rate was an improvement from 30 percent in 2005.
At latest count, 13 percent of the adults in the world, or 600 million people, were obese, more than double the 5 percent of 1980. “While it varies across regions, the problem is most severe in Northern America, Europe and Oceania, where 28 percent of adults are classified as obese, compared with 7 percent in Asia and 11 percent in Africa,” said the report.
Obesity is on the rise among many low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa. “Hence, while many low- and middle-income countries still face high levels of undernutrition and prevalence of infectious, communicable diseases, they are now also experiencing an increasing burden of people suffering from overweight and obesity and an associated rise in certain non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.”
“Food insecurity and obesity often co-exist – even in the same household. When resources for food become scarce, and people’s means to access nutritious food diminish, they often rely on less-healthy, more energy-dense food choices that can lead to overweight and obesity.”
For a brief version of the report that includes interactive graphics, click here.