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BRUSSELS, July 12: Over 122 million more people are facing hunger in the world since 2019 due to the pandemic and repeated weather shocks and conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published Wednesday jointly by five United Nations specialized agencies.
The 2023 edition of the report reveals that between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022, with a mid-range of 735 million. This represents an increase of 122 million people compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
If trends remain as they are, the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030 will not be reached, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warn.
Presenting the report in Brussels today, David Laborde, Director, FAO Agrifood Economics Division, said “urbanisation is a mega trend that must factor into our efforts to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition”.
On her part, Magda Kopczynska, Deputy Director-General for Agriculture in the European Commission said “thorough analysis such as the SOFI report is key to help policy makers address global food insecurity and the challenge of transforming agriculture” underlined.
While global hunger numbers have stalled between 2021 and 2022, there are many places in the world facing deepening food crises. Progress in hunger reduction was observed in Asia and Latin America, but hunger was still on the rise in Western Asia, the Caribbean and throughout all subregions of Africa in 2022.
Africa remains the worst-affected region with one in five people facing hung —