The United Nations announced, on Monday, that hunger in the world declined slightly in 2024, and extends between 638 and 720 million people, thanks to the progress made in Latin America and Southeast Asia, but it is increasing in Africa, according to the French Press Agency.
About 8.2 percent of the world’s population suffered from hunger in 2024, a decrease of 0.3 percent from 2023, but there are “big differences” in the world, according to a joint report issued by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Idad), UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the World Health Organization.
While the number of people suffering from hunger decreased significantly in Latin America and the Caribbean region, it is exacerbated in West Asia and Africa, so that it exceeds 20 percent on the continent.
These figures issued on the occasion of the United Nations Dietary Conference in Ethiopia do not reflect the goals set by the United Nations in a hunger -free world by 2030.
Current estimates are that the number of those suffering from nutritional use by the end of the contract will reach about 512 million people, 60 % of them in Africa.
Among the five countries that include the largest number of people who suffer from acute food insecurity, that is, when a person is unable to eat a sufficient food for an imminent danger, four countries are located in Africa: Nigeria, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia.
The report also referred to the situation in the devastating Gaza Strip as a result of the war, where all the population suffers from severe food security.
Alvaro Lario, head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, told the French Press Agency: “In Gaza, we see people die,” Alvaro Lario, head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, told the French Press Agency. He added, “Access must be provided urgently to transfer vital humanitarian aid … The inability to reach has been going on for several months.”
In 2024, about 2.3 billion people were forced to miss a meal from time to time, and thus suffer from average or severe food insecurity, a stable number compared to 2023.
But this number increases by 335 million people compared to 2019, before the Corona crisis.
The pandemic and war in Ukraine led to a sharp rise in food prices.
But the United Nations agencies extracted high inflation lessons in 2007 and 2008, due to the financial crisis, and provided “better coordination” responses.
