Acute Hunger Remains Persistently High in 59 Countries

The partners of the Global Network against Food Crises call for a transformative approach to breaking the cycle of acute hunger

Rome – according to another Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), nearly 282 million people in 59 countries and territories will experience high levels of acute hunger in 2023 – a global increase of 24 million people from the previous year. This increase is due to the report’s increased coverage of food crisis contexts as well as the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan.

For four consecutive years, the proportion of people facing acute food insecurity has remained persistently high at around 22% of those assessed, significantly exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels.

The report shows that children and women are at the forefront of these hunger crises, with more than 36 million children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition in 32 countries. Acute malnutrition will worsen in 2023, especially among those displaced by conflict and disasters.

The Global Network Against Food Crises is urgently calling for a transformative approach that integrates peace, prevention and development action alongside large-scale emergency efforts to break the cycle of acute hunger that remains at unacceptably high levels.

“This crisis requires an urgent response. Using the data in this report to transform food systems and address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition will be vital,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Prolonged hunger

Thirty-six countries have been continuously included in the Global Hunger Report’s analyzes since 2016, reflecting sustained years of acute hunger and currently representing 80% of the world’s hungriest people.

There was also an increase of 1 million people facing emergency levels (IPC/Phase IV) of acute food insecurity in 39 countries and territories, with the largest increase in Sudan.

In 2023, more than 705,000 people were at disaster level (IPC Phase 5) food insecure and at risk of famine – the highest number in GRFC reporting history, and a four-fold increase since 2016. The situation shows The current situation in the Gaza Strip is for about 80% of those facing imminent famine, along with South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mali.

According to the GRFC 2024 Outlook, approximately 1.1 million people in the Gaza Strip and 79,000 people in South Sudan are expected to be exposed to a disaster (IPC/CH Phase 5) by July 2024, bringing the total number of people expected in this phase to approximately 1.3 million.

Main drivers of food crises

Exacerbating conflict and insecurity, the effects of economic shocks, and the effects of extreme weather events continue to lead to acute food insecurity. These interconnected drivers exacerbate the fragility of food systems, rural marginalization, poor governance and inequality, and lead to the displacement of large populations globally. In addition, the protection status of displaced populations is affected by food insecurity.

Conflict remained the main driver affecting 20 countries, with nearly 135 million people suffering from acute food insecurity – nearly half the global number. Sudan faced the greatest deterioration due to the conflict, with 8.6 million people facing higher levels of acute food insecurity than in 2022.

Extreme weather events were the main driver in 18 countries, with more than 72 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity, up from 12 countries with 57 million people in 2022. In 2023, the world experienced its hottest year on record and Climate-related shocks. population, with periods of severe floods, storms, droughts, wildfires, and pest and disease outbreaks.

The economic shocks primarily affected 21 countries where approximately 75 million people were facing high levels of acute food insecurity, due to their high dependence on imported food and agricultural inputs and continuing macroeconomic challenges including currency depreciation, rising prices, and high debt levels.

Breaking the cycle of food crises

Addressing persistent food crises requires urgent, long-term national and international investments to transform food systems and promote agricultural and rural development, as well as increasing crisis preparedness and delivering vital life-saving aid at scale, where people need it most. Peace and prevention must also become an integral part of long-term food systems transformation. Without it, people will face hunger for life, and the most vulnerable groups will starve.

Since 2023, needs have exceeded available resources. Humanitarian operations are now hopelessly overstretched, with many forced to further scale back and scale back support for the most vulnerable. More equitable and effective global economic governance is essential and must be matched by government-led plans that seek to reduce and eliminate hunger.

To stem the tide of increasingly severe food insecurity, the international community has made a range of bold commitments, including through recent G7 and G20 initiatives. The Global Network Against Food Crises offers to leverage its unparalleled knowledge of hunger in the most vulnerable countries to strengthen linkages and build coherence where possible between these different global initiatives to ensure innovative and tangible impact for those affected by food crises.

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About the Global Report on Food Crises

the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) It is produced annually by Food Security Information Network (FSIN) which was launched by Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) – A multi-stakeholder initiative involving the United Nations, European Union, USAID, and non-governmental agencies working together to address food crises.

About the World Food Programme

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the world’s leading humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food aid to build a path to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and climate impact. It changes.

Note to editors

Acute food insecurity occurs when a person’s inability to consume enough food puts their life or livelihood in immediate danger. It relies on internationally accepted measures to combat acute hunger, e.g IPC Integrated Phase Classification System for Food Security Which refers to five stages of acute food insecurity as follows: 1) threshold, 2) stress, 3) crisis, 4) emergency, and 5) catastrophe when famine is declared.

A food crisis is a situation where acute food insecurity requires urgent action to protect and save lives and livelihoods at the local or national level and exceeds local resources and capacities to respond. A food crisis is defined as “major” if more than 1 million people or more than 20% of the county’s total population are estimated to be facing a Stage 3 or higher crisis, or if at least one area is classified as a Stage 4 emergency or higher.

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