Pandemic caused biggest increase in world hunger for decades, UN says
- Some 2.37 billion people – about one in three – did not have access to adequate food in 2020, the report said, up almost 320 million in one year
- The increase in hunger was widespread as the economic downturn affected almost all low- and middle-income countries
The world was already off track to achieve its goal of eradicating hunger by 2030, but the report warned that Covid-19 had now sent it back in the wrong direction.
The “economic downturns as a consequence of Covid-19 containment measures all over the world have contributed to one of the largest increases in world hunger in decades,” said the annual food security and nutrition report compiled by several UN agencies.
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Although the full impact of the pandemic cannot yet be determined, the report estimated around 118 million more people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019, an increase of 18 per cent.
The rise in moderate or severe food insecurity was equal to the previous five years combined.
“Nearly one in three people in the world [2.37 billion] did not have access to adequate food in 2020 – an increase of almost 320 million people in just one year,” the report said.
One in 10 people were undernourished.