COVID fueled hunger in 2020: UN report

July 12, 2021

A United Nations report published that the coronavirus pandemic had contributed to an increase in the number of people facing hunger worldwide. The report's conclusion is a setback to the UN's efforts to ensure people have adequate access to food, with the world already off track to achieve the goal of eradicating hunger by 2030. UN authority reported an estimated 18% increase in hunger rates as 118 million more people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019. Taking the middle estimate of three possible figures, 768 million people, it would equate to almost exactly 10% of the world's population. The report's authors concluded that in 2020 hunger was "outpacing population growth." "Nearly one in three people in the world [2.37 billion] did not have access to adequate food in 2020 — an increase of almost 320 million people in just one year," the annual food security and nutrition report said. According to the report, Africa saw the sharpest rise in hunger, with 21% of its population estimated to be undernourished. "A full 3 billion adults and children remain locked out of healthy diets, largely due to excessive costs,'' the UN agencies said.

Source: DW