Despite the fact that the overall number of people suffering from hunger was decreasing before the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of millions currently still face this issue on a daily basis.
The causes of hunger are numerous, complex, and often interlinked. However, six of these causes can be described as the ‘origins’ of this deadly phenomenon.
Our planet is home to almost 8 billion people of whom 811 million face hunger on a daily basis. Moreover, if the current trends persist, this number could exceed 840 million by 2030. Another few stats that are worth mentioning before we look deeper into the root causes of world hunger are:
- 47 nations will not achieve low hunger status by 2030
- 135 million people are suffering from severe hunger mainly due to military conflicts
- Around 161 million people from 42 nations and regions faced critical levels of food insecurity in 2021, an almost 4% increase from the previous year.
Root causes of global hunger
Even though the Earth has enough resources for people to produce sufficient food for billions, people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger every day. Here are the most common causes of global hunger according to World Food Program USA.
🔹 Military conflicts
A military conflict is the leading cause of hunger. It displaces families, shocks economies and infrastructure, and impedes agricultural development.
- Around 80% of the biggest food crises occur due to war and oppression
- In 2020, around 80 million people had to leave their homes due to conflicts
The Democratic Republic of the Congo faces the world’s biggest food crisis with 27 million people suffering from severe hunger due to years of war, displacement, illness, a falling economy, natural catastrophes, and coronavirus-related measures. The UN aided over 6.9 million individuals across the nation in 2020.
🔹 Extreme weather
Extreme weather events are among the major causes of destruction and hunger on our planet and particularly in poor regions. Rainfall, for instance, harms crops and/or restricts the area of accessible animal pasture. Moreover, as a result of climate change-related weather phenomena, over 100 million people could face extreme poverty in the near future.
- Over the previous five decades, extreme weather events have multiplied five-fold.
- Each year due to natural disasters the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) reaches 30.7 million. Storms and floods are the major causes.
- Oddly, the deforestation carried out by people to clear land for agriculture ultimately impacts food production. It is well-known that forest ecosystems play an important role in climate regulation. They attract rain and help to stabilize the soil, improving its quality and increasing harvests.
See also: Seven alarming facts about deforestation and statistics by region
🔹 Famine and gender inequality
In around 60% of the world’s states, women are more likely than males to endure hunger and malnutrition, mainly because women frequently eat last and least.
- Out of 811 million people who face hunger, around 60% are women and girls.
- 30% of women of reproductive age have anemia, a diet-related iron shortage that, if left untreated, can lead to organ damage.
Good nutrition may keep women healthy and girls in school, enhancing their economic potential.
Women make up around 43% of the planet’s agricultural laborers but just 15% of landowners. They are frequently denied the right to own the property on which they work or to make decisions regarding any type of financing.
In some nations, tradition states that women shall eat last. At the same time, polls have revealed that women are responsible for 85-90% of household meal preparation.
🔹 Wasted food
Every year, over 30% of all the food that is produced around the globe is lost or squandered. If people could recover all that food waste, it would be possible to feed 2 billion hungry humans in the world. Twice.
- Every year, over 30% of all the food in the world is produced for personal consumption. More than 1.3 billion tons of food, worth US$1 trillion, is thrown away.
- Wasted food contributes to 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Yearly, consumers in developed nations waste nearly as much food (222 million tons) as sub-Saharan Africa’s total net food output (230 million tons).
🔹 Extreme poverty
Poverty and hunger are inextricably linked, meaning that people facing extreme hunger live in extreme poverty, defined as earning less than US$1.90 per day. Poverty-stricken families may often sell their cattle or equipment to earn an income. This provides temporary comfort but reinforces a long-term cycle of hunger and poverty which is frequently handed down from parents to children.
Smallholder farmers living and working in developing nations form the group that is most vulnerable to severe poverty. They are unable to grow enough crops due to the lack of land and they make so little money from selling it that it is simply not enough to afford to buy food from other sources.
🔹 COVID-19 pandemic
Small-scale farmers, merchants, store owners, and the like were disproportionately impacted by the restrictions linked with the pandemic. Quarantines hampered supply delivery and led food prices to skyrocket, making it impossible for many people who were living on the breadline to afford it.
Lockdown efforts led to the loss of numerous jobs. This income loss quickly turned into hunger for low- and middle-class households who spend about 50% of their earnings on food. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, millions of people were pushed further into poverty.
According to UNICEF, school closures resulted in the loss of at least 39 billion school meals. For most children, this was the only meal of the day.
COVID-19 is particularly dangerous for the elderly or people with pre-existing health problems. In a vicious cycle, the disease predisposes people to malnourishment, and poor nutrition predisposes people to additional disease.
- Due to the coronavirus-related measures, 276 million today face hunger.
- 44 million people are nearly starving.
Final word
While there’s little chance that world hunger will end by 2030, there is still much that could be done to tackle the issue. At the same time, it is worth noting that each of the numerous causes of hunger are complex and interlinked. Of the almost 8 billion people in the world, over 800 million are suffering from hunger which is mostly due to various conflicts. This figure will grow if no significant steps are taken.