Africa has become the world’s hunger epicentre, with 309 million people experiencing hunger, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the United Nations.
The report, jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and four other UN agencies, revealed that 20 per cent of Africa’s population is affected by hunger.
The UN described the findings as a major shift in the global hunger landscape, even as the overall number of people facing hunger worldwide continues to decline.
“The centre of gravity of hunger has shifted to Africa,” said David Laborde, Director of the Agrifood Economics Division at the FAO.
Laborde attributed progress in other parts of the world to sustained investments and effective government policies.
Globally, the share of the world’s population experiencing hunger fell from 8.6 per cent in 2022 to 7.8 per cent, reducing the number of undernourished people by approximately 43 million to 645 million.
Despite the improvement, the UN noted that global hunger levels remain higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
While hunger has risen steadily across Africa since 2017, the report said preliminary estimates suggest the trend may be beginning to improve.
The report also highlighted Africa’s growing food affordability crisis, revealing that 66.6 per cent of the continent’s population cannot afford a healthy diet, making it the region with the highest level of food affordability challenges in the world.
To tackle the crisis, the UN agencies urged African governments to reform the animal-source food sector, describing it as the continent’s most expensive food category and a major barrier to healthy diets.
According to the report, climate-related shocks and prolonged armed conflicts remain the major drivers of food insecurity across the continent.
Laborde cited the ongoing conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, noting that millions of people have been forced from their farmlands or have lost their sources of income.
The UN has previously warned that about 20 million people in Sudan are facing acute food insecurity because of the ongoing conflict, while continued instability in the Middle East threatens to push millions more into hunger.
Laborde added that although rising energy and fertiliser costs linked to global conflicts have so far had only a limited impact on food prices, the global food security crisis is far from over.
