Progress in the fight against global hunger and malnutrition has stagnated, leaving approximately 733 million people worldwide struggling with hunger, according to the UN’s latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (also known as SOFI) published July 24 in Rio de Janeiro.
To put it plainly, the report paints a dire picture. Instead of making progress towards a world of Zero Hunger by 2030, malnutrition rates have backtracked by a whopping 15 years. Globally, about one in 11 people faced hunger last year (and one in five did so in Africa). This reversal of momentum has thrown the world off track in achieving Global Goal 2, which includes ending hunger, food insecurity, and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. With just six years to go, hope of crossing that finish line is fading fast.
To reverse this trajectory, urgent action is needed. Achieving real, long-term progress will require providing sufficient financial and technical support on a scale that addresses the root causesof hunger rather than its symptoms.
Luckily, the report outlines some key recommendations to do so, and there are other reasons to hope that change could be on the horizon. Countries and partners across the Global South, such as Brazil, are stepping up and introducing innovative new financing opportunities and partnerships, such as the Global Alliance Against Poverty and Hunger, to help reverse these trends. Let’s get into it.
Key Takeaways:
After rising sharply in the wake of COVID-19, global hunger levels have remained virtually the same for three years in a row now.
About 733 million estimated people (9% of the global population) were undernourished in 2023.
If current trends continue, 582 million people are projected to remain chronically food insecure in 2030, half of them in Africa.
Africa has the highest percentage of its population facing hunger, at roughly 20% (compared to 8% in Asia, 6% in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 7% in Oceania).
Inequality is a major predictor of food insecurity. Unsurprisingly, low-income countries have the highest percentages of people who are unable to afford a healthy diet (about 72%; this figure is just 6% in high-income countries).
Putting This Year’s Report in Context:
The SOFI report is the UN’s flagship publication (jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Health Organization (WHO)) that seeks to provide a snapshot on global progress towards ending hunger and improving food security and nutrition everywhere.
However, the world has experienced a number of severe setbacks on its way towards achieving these goals. The number of people living in extreme poverty rose in the aftermath of COVID-19, which further aggravated high levels of inequality within and among countries. Soaring food prices and disrupted agricultural supply chains have had a disproportionate impact on the world’s most vulnerable populations, including women, girls, those living in poverty, and refugees.
Compounding the problem further, the impact of food insecurity and malnutrition echoes across future livelihoods. Even if someone experiences hunger for only a relatively brief period in childhood, it can have adverse effects on both long-term physical and cognitive development for years to come. This can impact learning outcomes and earning potential, and have health consequences that create intergenerational poverty traps that are extraordinarily difficult to escape.
It’s important to remember that global hunger is not caused by a lack of food or an inability to produce it. Instead, it’s largely the symptom of a trio of underlying factors: conflict, climate change, and economic inequality. SOFI 2024 once again underlines the key fact that we still can end hunger and malnutrition by 2030 — what we’re missing is the money (and the political will to use it effectively) to do so.
Here are a few of its key recommendations for changing course on global hunger right away:
1. Clearly Define Financing for Food Security
Simply put, it’s difficult, if not nearly impossible, to assess what you can’t measure. Right now, there is a range of definitions of financing for food security and nutrition that makes it difficult to pin down how much money is being spent today, and how much is needed in the future.
Many definitions also need to consider interventions that go beyond short-term humanitarian assistance and target the major drivers behind hunger. For example, couldn’t funds meant to assist smallholder farmers with climate adaptation also count as efforts to curb food insecurity?
To address this gap, SOFI 2024 suggests a definition that includes all policy pathways to a more food-secure world, including health, education, and social protection services, via both short- and long-term avenues.
2. Improve Global Coordination
According to SOFI 2024, the financing architecture for tackling hunger needs to be more cohesive. In other words, there’s a severe lack of coordination and consensus around which programs ought to be funded. As a result, a more ad-hoc approach with short-term, occasionally competing projects has emerged without an overarching global strategy.
Reigniting progress around the world will require all-hands-on-deck collaboration rather than a siloed approach. That means we’ll need to see increased coordination between stakeholders of all sizes, and finance what’s most needed on the ground to make a real impact.
3. Scale Up Financing Streams and Investments
The report also argues that the overall amount of financing for food security and nutrition needs to be taken up a few notches. We need to improve our agrifood systems’ resilience to the major drivers behind hunger — and that’s going to require some major investment.
Today, the world spends about $77 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA, or aid from governments to developing countries) on food security and nutrition — which is less than 1% of the global GDP.
While the estimated cost of ending hunger is tough to pin down, the report estimates that an additional $176 billion to $4 trillion will be required until 2030 to eradicate hunger fully. But we know that the cost of doing nothing would be even higher. Failing to take action today could result in devastating social, economic, and environmental consequences requiring several trillions to redress properly. What’s more, strengthening food systems could generate $4.5 trillion in new business opportunities every year, potentially creating 120 million new jobs that benefit both people and the planet.
Changing Course
To eradicate hunger, we must not only scale up investment, but also use that funding strategically. Directing resources where they’re most needed, such as rural areas of developing countries, will help support sustainable agriculture and small shareholder farmers, who produce a third of the world’s food but bear the brunt of the climate crisis. This is why in its next project cycle, IFAD will devote 45% of its core resources to supporting the development of rural areas in low-income countries.
As we’ve seen, the causes of poverty and hunger are intimately linked. Ambitious, well-designed projects that alleviate inequality could therefore be one of the most cost-effective ways to also fight food insecurity. One shining example of a country stepping up in this realm is Brazil, host of this year’s G20 Summit, which is proposing the establishment of a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. This coalition would help connect partners with organizations and experts that can share funding and technical assistance on tried-and-tested programs where they’re most needed, prioritizing the world’s most vulnerable populations. Brazil expects substantial support for this initiative from G20 members and for more than 100 countries to join when it officially launches in November.
Looking Ahead
Despite challenges, SOFI 2024 remains optimistic that achieving Zero Hunger by 2030 is still within reach. The truth is that none of the UN’s Global Goals can be tackled individually. Poverty, climate change, hunger, and conflict all influence one another, often in a vicious cycle, and regaining lost progress over the last few years will require radically new, holistic approaches.
As WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus argued, all money spent on food security and nutrition must be reframed as investments in a healthier, safer, and fairer future. As the clock ticks closer to 2030, time is undeniably short. But a world without hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition is worth fighting for — and one well worth investing in.