2030 forecast: 582 million globally to face chronic undernutrition, says UN report

New Delhi: A recent report from UN agencies revealed that in 2023, approximately one in every 11 people worldwide, totaling 733 million individuals, faced hunger. This data, published in the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report on Wednesday, underscores a troubling trend towards widespread food insecurity.

Looking ahead, projections suggest that by 2030, around 582 million people could be chronically undernourished, highlighting a significant setback in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger.

The report points out that despite pockets of improvement in areas like stunting and exclusive breastfeeding, global hunger levels have stagnated over the past three years. The number of undernourished people hovered between 713 million and 757 million in 2023, marking an increase of approximately 152 million compared to 2019.

Of particular concern is the rise in hunger levels in Africa, affecting 20.4% of the population. Meanwhile, Asia, while showing stable rates at 8.1%, remains a critical area due to its sheer population size, harboring more than half of the world's undernourished individuals.

There was some positive news from Latin America, where hunger rates decreased to 6.2%.

“We are off track on all indicators. That's clear. If we project the numbers of today, we will have up to 582 million people chronically undernourished or hungry by 2030. This is half a billion more than the target, which is ‘Zero Hunger’,” said Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

“We need to accelerate the process and change if we want to get as close as possible to our target, which was very ambitious from the beginning. We only have six years left. Now, if I observe all the different regions and I see what has happened in South America, I see that this is possible,” he added.

Despite these regional variations, the report emphasized that billions still struggle to access sufficient food. In 2023, an estimated 2.33 billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity globally, a figure largely unchanged since the peak observed during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The report also highlighted the multifaceted challenges of malnutrition, including low breastfeeding rates, low birth-weight, wasting, and anemia, underscoring the complexity of achieving food security for all.

There is “an urgent need for targeted interventions as the world is not on track to reach any of the seven global nutrition targets by 2030”, the UN said.

Agencies