According to a recent United Nations report, the goal of eliminating global hunger by 2030 appears increasingly unachievable. The annual report on the state of food security and nutrition worldwide, released on Wednesday, indicates that approximately 733 million people are facing hunger in 2023—equating to one in eleven individuals globally and one in five in Africa. This situation has been exacerbated by conflicts, climate change, and economic crises.
David Laborde, director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which contributes to preparing the report, stated that while progress has been made in certain regions, the overall situation has deteriorated globally. “We are in a worse situation today than we were nine years ago when we launched the goal of eradicating hunger by 2030,” he told the Reuters news agency. He added that challenges such as climate change and regional conflicts have become more severe than anticipated a decade ago. If current trends continue, around 582 million people are projected to be chronically undernourished by the end of the decade.
The report highlighted considerable regional disparities. Hunger continues to rise in Africa, driven by escalating populations, wars, and climate upheavals. In contrast, Asia has seen little change, while Latin America has shown improvement.
Furthermore, the report noted that 71.5 percent of people in low-income countries could not afford a healthy diet last year, compared to only 6.3 percent in high-income countries. Although hunger is easily identifiable, malnutrition is more insidious and can have lifelong consequences, impeding both physical and mental development in infants and children, while making adults more vulnerable to infections and diseases.
Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, emphasized the impact of malnutrition on children’s survival, physical development, and cognitive growth. Nevertheless, she pointed out that the global rate of childhood stunting has decreased by one-third, or 55 million children, over the past two decades. This demonstrates that investments in child nutrition can address current challenges, she stated. “We must rapidly increase funding to end child malnutrition. The world can and must do it. It is not only a moral obligation but also a wise investment in the future,” Russell remarked.
The United Nations also indicated that the financing mechanisms for anti-hunger initiatives need reform, stressing the importance of flexibility to ensure that countries in greatest need receive help. “We need to change how we do things to be better coordinated, to accept that not everyone should try to do everything, but to really focus much more on what we do and where,” Laborde stated.
He additionally mentioned that international aid related to food security and nutrition amounts to $76 billion annually, or 0.07 percent of the world’s total annual economic output. “I believe we can do better to fulfill this promise of living on a planet where no one is hungry,” he said.