1070. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report (SOFI) 2024

On July 24, the 2024 edition of "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report: SOFI" was released by United Nations agencies (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO), highlighting that in 2023, one in 11 people in the world and one in five in Africa were estimated to have faced hunger. This year’s subtitle is "Financing to End Hunger, Food Insecurity and Malnutrition in All its Forms." 

The proportion of people facing undernutrition globally has remained high for three consecutive years, even after a surge in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, an estimated 713 million to 757 million people, equivalent to one in 11 people worldwide and one in five people in Africa, may have faced hunger.

Hunger increased in Africa but remained more or less constant in Asia, while progress was made in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Updated estimates, focusing on economic access to nutritious food, show that more than one-third of the world's population (about 2.8 billion people) could not afford a healthy diet in 2022. Inequality is evident, with the largest proportion of the population unable to afford a healthy diet in low-income countries (71.5%), followed by lower-middle-income countries (52.6%), upper-middle-income countries (21.5%), and high-income countries (6.3%).

The lack of improvements in food security and uneven progress in economic access to healthy diets cast a shadow over the possibility of achieving zero hunger in the world by the 2030 deadline. Predictions indicate that in 10 years, 582 million people will be chronically malnourished, with more than half of them living in Africa.

Achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) requires more cost-effective financing. Innovative, inclusive, and equitable solutions are needed to scale up financing for food security and nutrition in countries where hunger and malnutrition are severe.

Reference
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2024. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 – Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. Rome.
https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1254en

Contributors: SHIRATORI Sakiko (Information and Public Relations Office), IIYAMA Miyuki (Information Program)