Global Hunger Levels Decline for Third Consecutive Year, Report Reveals

Strategic Insights -

A new United Nations report, jointly prepared by five UN agencies, including the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Food Programme, has found that global hunger levels declined for a third consecutive year in 2024. This decrease is attributed to improved access to food in South America and India, which offset the effects of deepening malnutrition and climate shocks in parts of Africa and the Middle East. Despite this progress, over 673 million people, or 8.2 percent of the world's population, experienced hunger in 2024, with persistent inequalities affecting women and rural communities.

Key Takeaways:

  • The UN report found that the global hunger rate declined to 8.2 percent in 2024, down from 8.5 percent in 2023, with around 673 million people experiencing hunger.
  • The agencies attributed the decline in hunger rates to improved access to food in South America and India, which offset the effects of malnutrition and climate shocks in parts of Africa and the Middle East.
  • The report highlighted "persistent inequalities" with women and rural communities most affected, with the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet increasing in Africa from 864 million in 2019 to over one billion in 2024.
  • The report noted that while global food production is adequate, millions of people go hungry or are malnourished due to the unaffordability, inaccessibility, or unavailability of safe and nutritious food.
  • The WHO warned that malnutrition in the besieged Palestinian enclave has reached "alarming levels" since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2.
  • The report emphasized the need to urgently reverse the trajectory of chronic undernourishment, with 512 million people projected to be chronically undernourished in 2030, with nearly 60 percent residing in Africa.

Statistics:

  • 8.2 percent: The global hunger rate in 2024, down from 8.5 percent in 2023.
  • 673 million: The number of people experiencing hunger in 2024, representing around 8.2 percent of the world's population.
  • 307 million: The number of people chronically undernourished in Africa in 2024, representing more than one in five people on the continent.
  • 512 million: The number of people projected to be chronically undernourished in 2030, with nearly 60 percent residing in Africa.
  • 60 percent: The projected percentage of chronically undernourished people residing in Africa in 2030.
  • 2.6 billion: The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet globally in 2024, down from 2.76 billion in 2019.
  • 1.5 billion: The population of Africa, where the vast majority of people are unable to eat well.
  • 2.76 billion: The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet globally in 2019.
  • 16 percent: The global adult obesity rate in 2022, up from 12 percent in 2012.

Sources:

  • [United Nations report, jointly prepared by the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Food Programme]
  • [Al Jazeera news article, "Palestinian baby among 14 who died from hunger in Gaza in last 24 hours"]
  • [Al Jazeera news article, "Trump: Some of those kids, that's real"]
  • [Al Jazeera news video, "Sudan"]
  • [RFA news agency report, "Report: Global Hunger Levels Decline for Third Consecutive Year"]