Some 645 million people suffered from hunger last year, or 7.8% of the world population, a slight improvement which risks colliding this year with the shocks of the war in the Middle East and the climate, estimated Tuesday July 21 the FAO. The situation is particularly critical in Africa, where 20% of the population is subject to undernourishment – that is to say a chronic lack of calories –, indicates this annual report.
Overall, the post-Covid economic crisis has plunged millions of additional people into hunger: 688 million human beings were affected in 2022. Since then, the situation has recovered, although without returning to 2019 levels, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, a UN agency. In 2030, the UN projects between 510 and 520 million undernourished people, more than half of them in Africa.
“The center of gravity of hunger has moved from Asia to Africa,” describes David Laborde, director of the agri-food economics division at FAO. “25 years ago, China still had a hunger problem, they solved it; India also has a problem but they are putting a lot of effort into actively solving it.”
Climate shocks felt more harshly on the African continent
Increasingly severe climate shocks are being felt particularly hard in Africa. “Conflicts like Sudan, what is happening in the Sahel region, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, also weigh heavily on people who cannot have access to their land or no longer have income,” continues David Laborde.
As for the post-Covid economic crisis, “we have started to recover, but less quickly than we thought,” he says. According to this report, 2.69 billion people – almost one in three – cannot afford a healthy diet, with costs having increased by 25% in five years. Obesity among adults continues to grow, reaching 16.2% of the population in 2024 (and 18.6% projected in 2030).
This year events, including war in the Middle East, “threaten to undermine progress” in Africa and Asia, the report warns. The FAO also says it is “vigilant” about the impact of the El Niño ocean phenomenon on crops in India, Africa and the “dry corridor” of South America, which are already very vulnerable to food insecurity.
