About one in eleven people worldwide suffered from hunger in 2023, the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report highlights.
The impact of prolonged hunger is devastating, especially for children, leading to serious health problems and lifelong physical and cognitive impairments. Undernutrition isn’t just about not getting enough calories; it also means lacking essential proteins, vitamins, and minerals.
Understanding the scope and causes of this crisis is crucial. Factors like armed conflicts, extreme weather events, and the ongoing socio-economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed global hunger to a critical level.
2023 Global Hunger Index Overview
In 2023, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) score for the world was 18.3, which is considered moderate. This was only slightly lower than the 2015 score of 19.1, showing that efforts to reduce hunger have mostly stalled.
The number of undernourished people worldwide, many of whom experience chronic hunger, has risen sharply from 572 million to approximately 735 million. This alarming increase highlights the failure of our current food systems to provide sufficient nutritious food for everyone. In 2022, over 3.1 billion people were unable to afford healthy diets, underscoring the widespread challenges in accessing adequate nutrition.
The world generates enough food to sustain all 7.5 billion people. Our global food production is very efficient, yet we still can’t feed everyone. This is mainly because of food waste.
Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published by five United Nations specialized agencies.
According to projections from the Global Hunger Index (GHI), if current trends continue, 58 countries will fail to reach low hunger levels by 2030 – let alone zero hunger that the world actually pledged to achieve.
Global Food Insecurity Overview
In 2023, approximately 282 million people in 59 countries faced high levels of acute food insecurity, marking an increase of 24 million from 2022. This rise is primarily attributed to ongoing economic shocks, conflicts, natural disasters, and the impact of the war in Ukraine.
In 2022, 29.6 percent of the global population, or 2.4 billion people, were moderately or severely food insecure, meaning they did not have access to adequate food. This is 391 million more people than in 2019, before the pandemic.
In 2022, an estimated 149 million children under 5 were stunted (too short for their age), 45 million were wasted (too thin for their height), and 37 million were overweight or living with obesity. Nearly half of the deaths among children under 5 are linked to undernutrition.
In 2022, the severity of acute food insecurity rose to 22.7 percent, up from 21.3 percent in 2021, highlighting a worsening trend in global acute food insecurity.
World Food Program estimates that more than a quarter of a billion people are now facing acute hunger, with some on the brink of starvation.
Annual Deaths Caused by Hunger
Each year, around 9 million people die from hunger and hunger-related diseases, which is more than the deaths from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
Here’s the full report.
