According to the report, India is home to the largest number of undernourished individuals in the world. The alarming data underscores the severe nutritional deficiencies impacting millions across the country.
194.6 million people in India are undernourished, according to this year’s ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) report released by the UN last week.
The report, published by five UN agencies and led by the FAO, described a ‘healthy diet’ as comprising four key aspects: diversity, adequacy, moderation and balance.
According to the report, India is home to the largest number of undernourished individuals in the world. The alarming data underscores the severe nutritional deficiencies impacting millions across the country.
The UN’s latest annual assessment highlights that these people face chronic undernourishment. The Indian numbers represent a significant portion of the global total. The report points to inadequate food availability, poor dietary diversity, and persistent poverty as primary factors contributing to this crisis.
The proportion has seen a continuous decline (except in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic year). In South Asia, India only lags behind Pakistan (58.7 per cent) in 2022.
The low figures stare in the face of various government initiatives aimed at alleviating hunger, including food subsidy programs and nutritional schemes.
The report also indicates that child malnutrition rates in India are among the highest globally, with a substantial percentage of children suffering from stunted growth and wasted conditions. It says that more than half of India’s total population (55.6 per cent) is unable to afford a healthy diet. These figures not only reflect immediate health concerns but also long-term implications for the country’s development and economic productivity.
Experts urge that a more robust and multifaceted approach is necessary to tackle the issue effectively. This includes enhancing food security measures, improving agricultural productivity, and ensuring better health and nutrition education.
Global hunger
Progress fighting global hunger has been set back 15 years, leaving around 733 million people going hungry in 2023, equivalent to one in 11 people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the report.
“The bottom line is that we are still far off-track towards the goal of ridding the world of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition by 2030,” said Maximo Torero, Chief Economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in reference to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and specifically SDG 2: Zero Hunger.
Torero noted that if current trends persist, around 582 million people will still face hunger in 2030, half of them in Africa.
Despite progress in combating stunting and in promoting breastfeeding, global hunger levels have remained stubbornly static for three consecutive years.
Between 713 million and 757 million people were undernourished in 2023, around 152 million more than in 2019, according to the report, a joint publication by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
Africa, Asia, Latin America in focus
Regional trends show a stark contrast with hunger continuing to rise in Africa, affecting 20.4 per cent of the population, while remaining stable in Asia at 8.1 per cent. This is a significant concern given that the region houses more than half of those facing hunger worldwide. Latin America has shown some progress with 6.2 per cent of its population facing hunger. However, from 2022 to 2023, hunger increased in Western Asia, the Caribbean, and most African subregions.
FAO’s Torero highlighted that Africa faces a unique challenge as it is the only region where hunger has risen owing to all three major drivers: conflict, climate extremes and economic downturns.
Of them all, he emphasized that war remains “a major driver” of hunger, exacerbating the food crisis across countries.
Food out of reach
The report’s other key findings include that access to adequate food remains out of reach for billions. In 2023, approximately 2.33 billion people globally were moderately or severely food insecure, almost the same number as during the COVID pandemic.
Over 864 million people experienced severe food insecurity, meaning having to go for periods without food. While Latin America has seen some improvement in food security, in Africa, a full 58 per cent of the continent’s people are moderately or severely food insecure.
The economic reasons for global remain a major issue, too: the report found 2.8 billion people couldn’t afford a healthy diet in 2022. The contrast between high-income and low-income countries is stark, with just 6.3 per cent of people in the former unable to afford a healthy diet, compared to 71.5 per cent in poorer nations. And although Asia, North America and Europe saw improvements, the situation worsened in Africa.
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