Global Hunger Drops for Third Year – But Africa’s Food Crisis Deepens

Global hunger dipped again in 2024, that’s three years in a row, thanks to better food access in places like South America and India. But don’t get too comfortable: hunger is still raging across large parts of Africa and the Middle East, with climate shocks and conflict making things worse.

According to a new United Nations report released Monday, around 673 million people — or 8.2% of the world’s population — experienced hunger last year. That’s down slightly from 8.5% in 2023, and a positive shift from the pandemic-era spikes. But we’re still worse off than we were in 2019, before COVID hit.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report — compiled by five UN agencies including the WHO, FAO, and World Food Programme — paints a picture that’s equal parts relief and warning.

“Conflict continues to drive hunger from Gaza to Sudan and beyond,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a video message to a food summit in Ethiopia. “Hunger further feeds future instability and undermines peace.”

The biggest improvements were seen in South America and southern Asia. Hunger levels in South America dropped to 3.8% in 2024, down from 4.2%, while South Asia saw a fall from 12.2% to 11%.

That shift was driven by a mix of better farm output and social programs — including school meals — and new data from India showing more widespread access to healthy food.

“Improved agricultural productivity and social programmes are making a real difference,” said Maximo Torero, chief economist at the FAO.

Unfortunately, the situation in Africa is going the other way — fast. More than 1 in 5 people on the continent were undernourished in 2024. That’s over 307 million people, and it’s worse than it was two decades ago.

The report warns that, at this rate, 512 million people globally could be chronically undernourished by 2030 — and nearly 60% of them will be in Africa.

Even worse? Over 1 billion people in Africa can’t afford a healthy diet — up from 864 million in 2019. Meanwhile, the global number of people unable to afford nutritious food fell slightly to 2.6 billion.

So while some parts of the world are getting back on track, others are spiraling deeper into crisis.

The report focused mostly on chronic hunger, but UN officials pointed out it doesn’t fully reflect fast-moving disasters like Israel’s war on Gaza.

The WHO says malnutrition in Gaza has reached “alarming levels” since Israel’s full blockade began in March. Though some aid has trickled in since May, it’s nowhere near enough.

“Despite adequate global food production, millions of people go hungry because safe and nutritious food isn’t available, accessible, or — most often — affordable,” the report said.

The report also called out deepening inequalities. Hunger disproportionately affects women, rural areas, and low-income households. And while hunger’s fallen, obesity is on the rise — up to nearly 16% of adults globally in 2022, compared to 12% a decade earlier.

The cost of food is still a major factor. A big spike in food inflation, especially in early 2023, hit poorer nations the hardest and made already expensive diets even more out of reach.

The takeaway? Progress is real, but fragile. And unless structural issues like conflict, inequality, and inflation are addressed — that progress won’t hold.

With input from Al Jazeera