One in nine of the earth’s population is undernourished and the global hunger rate is creeping up from the low set in 2015, said five UN agencies in a report on Monday. Hunger is most prevalent in Africa, at nearly double the global level, but on every continent, women are more likely than men to go hungry.
War, climate, and economic slowdown are driving the increase in undernourishment, said the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. Measured as a percentage of the world’s 7.6 billion people, the hunger rate was 10.8 percent, compared to 10.6 percent in 2015.
“This means that today, a little over 820 million people suffer from hunger, corresponding to about one in every nine people in the world,” said the report, issued annually. “The situation is most alarming in Africa, where since 2015 the PoU (prevalence of undernourishment) shows slight but steady increases in almost all subregions. In Asia, the PoU has been steadily decreasing in most regions, reaching 11.4 percent in 2017.”
In Africa, the hunger rate was nearly 20 percent, affecting 256 million people. In Asia, the most populous continent, 256 million people faced hunger, as did 43 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The increase in the number of hungry people “underscores the immense challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030,” said the UN agencies. Hunger is increasing in many countries where economic growth is lagging.
“Economic slowdowns and downturns often lead to a rise in unemployment and decline in wages and incomes, challenging access to food and essential social services for the poor. People’s access to high-quality, nutritious food can be affected, as can access to basic services such as health care.”
“The U.S. government is not providing leadership in addressing the causes of this tragedy,” said Rev. David Beckman of Bread for the World, referring to the rise in hunger. The anti-hunger group supports a $250 million increase in U.S. funding of global nutrition programs in the coming fiscal year.
In addition to traditional the traditional measure of hunger, the report introduced a new gauge: the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity. Moderate insecurity means a lack of regular access to nutritious and sufficient food, while severe food insecurity means the food supply is so limited that the population may have experienced hunger. “The combination of moderate and severe levels of food insecurity brings the estimated total to 26.4 percent of the world population, amounting to about 2 billion people,” said the report.
Global commodity prices have declined largely since early this decade. “This is mainly affecting countries dependent on primary commodity exports, particularly in South America, but also other regions including Asia and some countries in Africa.”
For a digital version of the report, click here.