FAO: Africa increasingly besieged by hunger
On the continent, one in five people is malnourished, compared to one in eleven worldwide. Wars and climate change worsen the phenomenon
3' min read
3' min read
More than 710 million people suffered from hunger in 2023: that is one in eleven in the world and even one in five in Africa. The precise estimate, compiled by the FAO in its food security report, is between 713 and 757 million people, about 9 per cent of the planet's population. The scars of Covid-19, which exacerbated global inequalities, leave over 152 million more malnourished than in 2019. And the goal of eliminating world hunger by 2030 seems increasingly out of reach.
Africa getting hungrier
After the jump caused by Covid and the economic crisis that followed, globally, the number of hungry people has remained stable for three consecutive years. Not in Africa, however, where there has been an increase. Here, the malnourished population is 20.4%, compared to 8.1% in Asia, 6.2% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 7.3% in Oceania.
In absolute terms, Asia remains the region with the largest number of undernourished people: more than half of the total, i.e. 384.5 million, compared to 298.4 million in Africa, 41 million in Latin America and 3.3 million in Oceania.
According to FAO projections, by the end of the decade, Africa will also hold this sad record. In fact, by 2030, 582 million people are expected to be 'chronically undernourished' (130 million more than the pre-pandemic estimates), more than half of whom will be in Africa (53%).
For Elizabeth Nsimalda, president of the East African Farmers Federation, 'we are losing the battle against hunger, especially in rural communities where many of the people who produce the food we eat are unable to feed themselves and their families.
