Global efforts against hunger are making a difference but the fight isn’t over.
By 2030, it is projected almost 600 million people will still be facing hunger – 119 million more people than in a scenario in which neither the COVID-19 pandemic nor the Ukraine war occurred.
While the increase in global hunger observed in the last two years has stalled, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) annual State of Food Insecurity report has revealed global hunger is far above pre-pandemic levels, and continues to increase throughout Africa, Western Asia and the Caribbean.
In 2022, up to 783 million people around the world experienced hunger – a decline helped by economic recovery from the pandemic, but significantly undermined by other drivers of food insecurity including rising food prices, violent conflict and severe weather events.
Canadian Foodgrains Bank executive director Andy Harrington says although the overall change is minimal, it is encouraging to see certain regions of the world like Asia improving.
“There is much progress that has been made in recent years in the fight against hunger, so to know the number of people going hungry globally declined in 2022 gives us hope. As we step up our efforts to serve more than one million people experiencing hunger, we’re committed to seeing those numbers continue to decline, especially in places like the Horn of Africa where hunger is still on the rise.
“We have a long way to go, but for every person we see move from the pain of hunger into the relief of food security, it is worth the effort.”
In 2022, Foodgrains Bank members and partners committed to serve 1,103,795 people who are experiencing hunger in 36 countries around the world.
