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🇫🇷 France /Economy & Trade

Global hunger numbers improve slightly but remain a major concern

From Le Figaro · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • An estimated 645 million people faced hunger globally last year, representing 7.8% of the world's population, a slight improvement from previous years.
  • The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that conflicts and climate change could reverse this progress, with Africa being particularly vulnerable.
  • Despite international goals to eliminate hunger by 2030, projections indicate that 510-520 million people will still be undernourished by then, with over half in Africa.

Global hunger has seen a slight decrease, with 645 million people experiencing food insecurity last year, down from previous highs. However, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN cautions that this progress is fragile and could be undone by ongoing conflicts and severe climate shocks.

Africa remains the most affected continent, with 20% of its population suffering from chronic undernourishment. The FAO report highlights a shift in the "center of gravity" of hunger from Asia to Africa, as countries like China and India have made significant strides in addressing food insecurity.

The center of gravity of hunger has shifted from Asia to Africa.

— David LabordeDavid Laborde, director of the agro-food economics division at the FAO, described the changing landscape of global hunger.

While the international community set an ambitious goal to eliminate hunger by 2030, current projections suggest that between 510 and 520 million people will still be undernourished by that year. The FAO emphasizes that while food systems have shown resilience against crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and international conflicts, their capacity to absorb further shocks is limited. The economic recovery from COVID-19 has also led to increased global inequality, meaning the benefits of growth have not reached everyone's plates.

Farmers, food systems have shown resilience: we have international conflicts, climate shocks, Covid which is a crisis of macro-economic scale... and we don't have major famines like we saw in the 80s. But there is a limited capacity of absorption of the systems.

— David LabordeDavid Laborde, director of the agro-food economics division at the FAO, warned about the limited capacity of food systems to absorb further shocks.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Le Figaro in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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