Global Hunger Crisis is rising: 828 Million People Suffer from Hunger Worldwide

 

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Hunger levels are rising around the world due to food security issues, urbanization, increasing poverty, lack of good governance and climate change.

United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in its report revealed that about 828 million people, making equal to 10 percent of the world’s population go to bed hungry each night. With the increase of 46 million more than the previous year.

Furthermore, according to the statistics, among the people affected by hunger, two-thirds are women and 80 percent live in areas prone to climate change.

In order to create an awareness about global hunger levels, The Hunger Project, that is a non-profit organization, designated May 28 as World Hunger Day.

What is Hunger?

It defined as a debilitating state that occurs when the body is deprived of food for an extended scale of time.

Prolonged periods of hunger often lead to health issues and can cause lifelong physical and cognitive damage, particularly among children.

Undernutrition:

Undernutrition means not getting enough of the right kind of food to stay healthy. It's not just about taking less calories, but also about not getting enough energy, protein, and important vitamins and minerals that our bodies require to work properly.

After many years of decreasing, global hunger has started to increase again. Between 2019 and 2021, more than 150 million people became undernourished. This happened because of things like wars, climate change, economic problems, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another cause of undernutrition is inflation, the cost of food has increased. According to the FAO Food Price Index (FPI), between 2019 to 2022 the change occurred in global prices of food products including sugar, meat, cereals, dairy and vegetable oil. The ratio increased from 95.1 points to 143.7 points.

“Even as global food commodity prices increased – the increases on the country level differ, as countries employ different policies,” said Monika Tothova. She is an economist in the FAO’s Trade and Markets division.

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Higher rate of Hunger in Asia and Africa during 2021:

Another latest report by the UN State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) found that most of the world’s undernourished population lives in Asia. About 425 million people went hungry only in the year of 2021.

However, the prevalence of hunger is also highest in Africa, with 278 million affected in the same year.

The status in 2022 and 2023:

According to the 2023 edition of the Global Report on Food Crisis, the number of people experiencing acute food shortages, measured by a person’s inability to consume adequate food and, as a result, puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger, has increased for the fourth year in 2022, with 258 million people facing acute hunger.

Economic Shocks as the result of Hunger:

“Economic shocks have surpassed conflict as the primary driver of acute food insecurity and malnutrition in several major food crises,” Tothova said in the report.

According to Al-Jazeera, “Cumulative global economic shocks, including soaring food prices and severe disruptions to markets, undermine countries’ resilience and capacity to respond to food shocks.”

The Ukraine War impacted:

According to article published in Al-Jazeera, in 2022, the war between Russia and Ukraine, which are the two biggest global producers of staple cereals, oilseeds and fertiliser has led to huge disruptions in international food supply chains which pushed up the prices of grain, fertiliser and energy.

This led to the global FPI reaching at its highest level on record in 2022.

Observers predicts that projections for the future of global hunger are high, with more devastating effects from extreme weather events.

(Courtesy: Al-Jazeera)