UNITED NATIONS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- About 733 million people, or some 9 percent of the world population, may have faced hunger in 2023, said a UN report released on Wednesday, warning that the world is "off track" to meet the target of ending hunger and food insecurity by 2030.
The figure is about 152 million more than in 2019, said the report titled "State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024: Financing to End Hunger, Food Insecurity and Malnutrition in All Its Forms."
The report, published by five UN agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, was launched in the context of the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty Task Force Ministerial Meeting in Brazil.
According to the report, between 713 and 757 million people may have faced hunger in 2023 -- one out of 11 people in the world, and one out of every five in Africa. Considering the mid-range of 733 million, this is about 152 million more people than in 2019.
In 2023, an estimated 28.9 percent of the global population -- 2.33 billion people -- were moderately or severely food insecure, a number that has not changed significantly since the sharp upturn in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said.
While hunger is still on the rise in Africa and has remained relatively unchanged in Asia, notable progress has been made in the Latin American and Caribbean region, the report noted.
However, trends are not yet moving in the right direction to end hunger and food insecurity by 2030, and the indicators of progress towards global nutrition targets show that the world is not on track to eliminate all forms of malnutrition, with billions of people still lacking access to nutritious, safe and sufficient food, according to the report.
The report highlighted a combination of factors for worsening food insecurity and malnutrition, including persisting food price inflation, conflict, climate change, and economic downturns. These issues, along with underlying factors such as unaffordable healthy diets, unhealthy food environments and persistent inequality, are coinciding simultaneously, amplifying their individual effects.
The report emphasized that achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) -- the world's target of zero hunger -- requires a multi-faceted approach, including transforming and strengthening agrifood systems, addressing inequalities, and ensuring affordable and accessible healthy diets for all. It calls for increased and more cost-effective financing, with a clear and standardized definition of financing for food security and nutrition.
Implementing the policies, investments and legislation needed to revert the current trends of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition requires proper financing, the report said, calling for a common understanding regarding how this financing should be defined and tracked.
The report provided a long-awaited definition of financing for food security and nutrition and guidance for its implementation, and recommendations regarding the efficient use of innovative financing tools and reforms to the food security and nutrition financing architecture.
In a video message to the launch of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the report contains two important messages.
"The first is that hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition remain a global crisis," meaning that the world's target of zero hunger "is off track," and the second message is that "we can solve this crisis," Guterres said.
"And finance is the key," he said, calling for justice to help hard-hit countries invest in resilient, innovative and sustainable food systems, to ensure access to short and long-term concessional finance, investments, budget support and debt relief, and to reform the global financial architecture, so developing countries are better represented and can access adequate financing to achieve their goals.
"Hunger has no place in the 21st century," the UN chief emphasized, noting that the world of zero hunger envisioned by SDG 2 is not only necessary, but also achievable. ■