Over 735 million people were facing hunger in the world in 2022, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published Wednesday jointly by five United Nations agencies. The new estimates indicate hunger is no longer on the rise at the global level, but is still far above pre-pandemic levels and far off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger by 2030.
The 2023 edition of the report reveals that between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022, with a mid-range of 735 million. The number of people suffering from hunger has stagnated since 2020. Last year, it had even declined compared to 2021, when between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger. But compared to 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic - 122 million more people suffered from insufficient food, due to the pandemic, weather shocks and conflicts, including the war in Ukraine.
According to the report, the proportion of the world population facing chronic hunger in 2022 was about 9.2 percent, compared with 7.9 percent in 2019. After increasing sharply in 2020 in the midst of the global pandemic, and rising more slowly in 2021 to 9.3 percent, the prevalence of undernourishment ceased to increase from 2021 to 2022.
While global hunger numbers have slightly declined in 2022 with progress in hunger reduction in Asia and Latin America, there are many places in the world facing deepening food crises. From 2021 to 2022, hunger was still on the rise in Western Asia, the Caribbean and throughout all subregions of Africa. Africa remains the worst-affected region, with one in five people facing hunger on the continent, more than twice the global average.
The food security and nutrition situation remained grim in 2022. The report finds that approximately 29.6 percent of the global population, equivalent to 2.4 billion people, did not have constant access to food, as measured by the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity.
Millions of children under five continued to suffer from malnutrition: in 2022, 148 million children under five years of age (22.3 percent) were stunted, 45 million (6.8 percent) were wasted.
Stunting, the condition of being too short for one’s age, undermines the physical and cognitive development of children. Child wasting is a life-threatening condition caused by insufficient nutrient intake, poor nutrient absorption or frequent or prolonged illness. Affected children are dangerously thin, with weakened immunity and a higher risk of mortality.
The UN agencies warn, if trends remain as they are, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending hunger by 2030 will not be reached. The report projects that almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target of Zero Hunger poses therefore a daunting challenge.
The 2023 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report provides up-to-date information on the world's food security and nutrition situation. The report was jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Further information
Full text: The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023, report, FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, released July 12, 2023
https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc3017en