The world risks not achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger, by 2030, according to a recent United Nations (UN) report. The alarming findings were released during the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty Task Force Ministerial Meeting in Brazil.
The report, jointly issued by five UN agencies, revealed that in 2023, around 733 million people faced hunger, equating to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa. This level of undernourishment mirrors that of 2008-2009, showing a regression of 15 years.
Despite some progress in areas like stunting and exclusive breastfeeding, the number of people experiencing food insecurity and malnutrition remains troublingly high. Between 713 and 757 million people were undernourished in 2023, approximately 152 million more than in 2019.
Regional disparities are stark: hunger continues to rise in Africa (20.4%), remains steady in Asia (8.1%), and shows progress in Latin America (6.2%). However, hunger has increased in Western Asia, the Caribbean, and most African subregions from 2022 to 2023.
If current trends persist, about 582 million people will be chronically undernourished by 2030, with half of them in Africa. This projection is similar to 2015 levels when the SDGs were adopted, indicating a stagnation in progress.
Globally, around 2.33 billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2023, with over 864 million experiencing severe food insecurity, often going without food for an entire day or more. Economic access to healthy diets is a critical issue, affecting over one-third of the global population. In 2022, over 2.8 billion people couldn’t afford a healthy diet, with the disparity most pronounced in low-income countries.
While exclusive breastfeeding rates among infants have increased to 48%, other nutrition targets remain unmet. The prevalence of low birthweight and stunting among children under five, as well as wasting and anaemia in women aged 15 to 49, show insufficient progress.
Adult obesity has steadily risen from 12.1% in 2012 to 15.8% in 2022, with projections indicating over 1.2 billion obese adults by 2030. The co-existence of undernutrition and obesity underscores the complex challenges of malnutrition.
Major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition, such as conflict, climate change, and economic downturns, are becoming more frequent and severe. These issues, along with unaffordable healthy diets and persistent inequality, necessitate innovative and equitable solutions.
This year’s report, themed “Financing to End Hunger, Food Insecurity and All Forms of Malnutrition,” calls for a multi-faceted approach to achieve SDG 2. It emphasizes transforming agrifood systems, addressing inequalities, and ensuring affordable and accessible healthy diets for all.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, IFAD President Alvaro Lario, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain, and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the urgent need for increased and cost-effective financing. They stressed that policies and interventions to end hunger and malnutrition are critical investments in the future.
The report underscores the importance of coordinated efforts to harmonize data, increase risk tolerance, and enhance transparency to strengthen global food security and nutrition frameworks.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu: “Transforming agrifood systems is more critical than ever as we face the urgency of achieving the SDGs within six short years. We must innovate and collaborate to build more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems.”
IFAD President Alvaro Lario: “Ending hunger and malnutrition demands that we invest more – and more smartly. We must bring new money into the system from the private sector and recapture the pandemic-era appetite for ambitious global financial reform.”
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell: “Malnutrition affects a child’s survival, physical growth, and brain development. We must urgently step-up financing to end child malnutrition. It is not only a moral imperative but also a sound investment in the future.”
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain: “A future free from hunger is possible if we can rally the resources and the political will needed to invest in proven long-term solutions. We have the technologies and know-how to end food insecurity – but we urgently need the funds to invest in them at scale.”
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “The substantial investment required in healthy, safe and sustainably produced food is far less than the costs to economies and societies if we do nothing.”
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, published since 1999, monitors global progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security, and improving nutrition. This year’s theme is timely as the world prepares for the Summit of the Future and the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025.
