At least 155 million people affected by acute food insecurity in 2020

The number of people affected by acute food insecurity increased last year by 20 million compared to 2019 according to a report by Global Network Against Food Crises. The report, covering the populations of 55 countries, showed that the number of those affected by acute food insecurity amounted to 155 million people thereby preventing humanity from achieving the zero hunger goal by 2030.

Of these, about 133,000 residing in Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Yemen faced the most severe phase of acute food insecurity (Phase 5), needing urgent assistance to prevent livelihood collapse or death. Another 28 million people from 38 countries faced the emergency level of acute food insecurity (Phase 4) which means that they were on the verge of starvation. Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Yemen each had at least two million people affected at the level of phase 4. At the same time, the number of people affected by serious gaps in food consumption and suffering from high or above usual acute malnutrition (Phase 3) increased from 94 million in 2016 to 147 million in 2020.

In these circumstances, in 2020 over 75 million children under five years of age were stunted (too short) and over 15 million wasted (too thin), the report noted.

According to the report, conflicts were the most serious factor that triggered increased food insecurity, pushing almost 100 million people into acute food insecurity in 2020 compared to 77 million in 2019. The economic crisis fueled by the global pandemic became the second factor leading to food insecurity for 40 million people in 17 countries, compared to 24 million people in eight countries in 2019. Extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, or hurricanes pushed 15 million people into food insecurity in 2020, compared to 34 million in 2019.

Commenting on these findings, the EU, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations World Food Programme – all founding members of the Global Network – together with USAID said in a joint statement that the outlook for 2021 and beyond was “grim”.

“Conflict, pandemic-related restrictions fueling economic hardship and the persistent threat of adverse weather conditions will likely continue driving food crises.”

They called for “a radical transformation of our agri-food systems” in order to “nutritiously and consistently feed 8.5 billion people by 2030” and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Global Network Against Food Crises was founded by the EU, FAO, and WFP in 2016 and is an alliance of humanitarian and development actors working together to prevent, prepare for and respond to food crises.