Over 282 Million Suffered Acute Food Insecurity In 2023 – Report

Over 282 million suffered acute food insecurity in 2023 according to reports from the Global Food Crisis.

According to the 2024 Global Food Crisis Report, over 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced acute food insecurity in 2023. These numbers represent a 24 million increase over the previous year.

Conflict, extreme weather events, and economic shocks are the primary causes of acute hunger worldwide, according to a report authored by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), an alliance of humanitarian and development actors founded in 2016 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other partners.

Key Highlights

• 282 Million suffered from acute food insecurity 
• These 282 million people were from 59 countries
• A massive increase of 24 million people compared to 2022.

The rise in the number of people facing acute food insecurity can be attributed to increased analysis coverage and deteriorating acute food insecurity in some countries and territories, such as conflict zones like Gaza and Sudan.

According to the report, the five countries with the highest rates of acute food insecurity are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia, while Palestine, South Sudan, Yemen, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Haiti have the highest rates of hunger among their populations.

Rein Paulsen, Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, stated that one of the report’s key findings is that the percentage of the population facing a hunger crisis in 2023 (21.5 percent of the analysed population) has remained consistently high over time.

“Even more than the absolute numbers, I think one of the most important findings is that the prevalence, so the percentage of the assessed population in acute food insecurity, remained stubbornly high in 2023,” Paulsen said.

Initially released in 2016, the 2024 Global Report on Food Crisis reveals that food crises are severe and long-lasting, with 36 countries experiencing hunger for eight years in a row.

To break this vicious cycle, the Global Network advocated for a more integrated approach to prevention, anticipation, and preparedness, while Paulsen called for a “significant change” in food crisis strategies.

“More than 80% of people in need of humanitarian assistance, living in situations of acute food insecurity, are connected to agriculture and live in rural areas, but only 4% of funding goes to food security activities, in the context of a food crisis. So that tells us we need to make some significant shifts and changes there,” Paulsen said.

According to the report, the three main drivers behind the global exacerbation of food crises are conflicts, extreme weather events, and economic shocks.

Paulsen explained that these drivers are frequently interconnected and superimposed on structural vulnerabilities, making it difficult for households to cope with and recover from shocks.

Paulsen specifically addressed the situation in Sudan, which is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, with 18 million people experiencing acute food insecurity.

Commenting on the findings of a recent trip to the country, Paulsen stated that he saw how the overlapping effects of the ongoing civil war and the climate crisis have severely exacerbated food insecurity.

READ ALSO: Massive Floods Hits Kenya, As 10 People Reported Dead