Some 821 million people—1 in 9 of the world’s population—suffer from hunger, said a UN report on Tuesday, the third year in a row that hunger increased globally. The upturn jeopardizes the UN goal of eradicating hunger by 2030.
Hunger was on the decline for years, dropping below 784 million in 2014 before starting to creep upward. Now there are as many hungry people as in 2010, said the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report.
“Persistent instability in conflict-ridden regions, adverse climate events in many regions of the world, and economic slowdowns that have affected more peaceful regions and worsened food security all help to explain this deteriorating situation,” said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
“The situation is worsening in South America and most regions of Africa; likewise, the decreasing trend in undernourishment that characterized Asia until recently seems to be slowing down significantly,” said the report.
Bread for the World, an anti-hunger group, urged Congress to pass legislation funding the “Feed the Future” program of public-private partnerships to improve local food production. “This legislation would continue successful U.S. programs of assistance to struggling farm families in the world’s poorest countries,” said the Rev. David Beckmann, head of Bread for the World.
According to the FAO report, Africa has the highest hunger rate, 20.4 percent, followed by Asia, 11.4 percent; Oceania, 7 percent; Latin America and the Caribbean, 6.1 percent; and Europe and North America, less than 2.5 percent. But Asia has the highest number of hungry people, 515 million, followed by Africa, 257 million; Latin America and the Caribbean, 39 million; Europe and North America, less than 28 million; and Oceania, 2.8 million
Last year, the hunger report pointed to the effects of armed conflict on hunger. “The focus in 2018 in on the role of climate,” said the report. “Climate variability and extremes are a key driver behind the recent global rises in hunger and one of the leading causes of severe food crises.”
“Temperature anomalies over agricultural cropping areas continued to be higher than the long-term mean throughout 2011-2016, leading to more frequent spells of extreme heat in the last five years,” said an FAO release. “The nature of rainfall seasons is also changing, such as the late or early start of rainy seasons and the unequal distribution of rainfall within a season.”
According to FAO, the number of extreme climate-related disasters, such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms has doubled in the past quarter-century. From 1990-92, there were around 100 of these events a a year. Due to a sharp increase in floods and storms, the recent average is 213 a year. Drought is a great scourge, responsible for 80 percent of agricultural losses.
“Hunger is significantly worse in countries with agricultural systems that are highly sensitive to rainfall and temperature variability and severe drought, where the livelihood of the population depends on agriculture, and where the country does not have in place sufficient support measures to counter the fallout,” said the report. “For almost 36 percent of the countries that experienced a rise in undernourishment since 2015, this coincided with with the occurrence of severe agricultural drought.”
The El Nino-related droughts of 2015-16 affected hunger levels in so many countries that it contributed to the rise in hunger worldwide.
For an interactive summary of the report, click here.