UN: 8.5 per cent of the population suffers from hunger in Asia
According to new data from FAO’s latest report, the rate of undernourishment dropped slightly in Asia between 2021 and 2022. Yet 402 million Asians still endure serious food shortages, 58 million more than before the pandemic. The war in Ukraine has wiped out any positive effects on food prices generated by the post-pandemic economic recovery.
New York (AsiaNews) – In 2022, between 690 and 783 million people suffered from hunger worldwide, 122 million more than before the COVID-19 pandemic, but 3.8 million fewer than in 2021, this according to "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023" (known by the acronym SOFI) by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a study that is a reference for hunger in the world.
Unlike other parts of the world, moderate and severe food insecurity did not decrease significantly in Asia between 2021 and 2022, particularly in the southern subregion, but thanks to the economic recovery, major improvements in the continent's hunger levels could occur in the future.
According to the UN agency, while hunger levels in the world have remained almost unchanged between 2021 and 2022, the rate of undernourishment hovers around 9.2 per cent, still high compared to pre-COVID data (2019) when it stood at 7.9 per cent.
Despite some progress in parts of Asia and Latin America, hunger is rising in East Asia, the Caribbean, and some subregions of Africa.
Undernutrition, which had been rising in Asia since 2017, decreased in 2022, from 8.8 per cent in 2021 to 8.5 per cent – a drop of more than 12 million people, mostly in Southern Asia. However, this is still 58 million above pre-pandemic levels.
The biggest improvements were recorded in Southern Asia – where the level of undernourishment is still at 15.6 per cent – while in Eastern Asia things got worse, with at least two million people joining the ranks of those suffering from food shortages last year.
Although Asia has a rate of undernourishment that is half that of Africa, it has the highest number in absolute terms, 402 million, or 55 per cent of the people who suffered from hunger worldwide in 2022.
Driving the change is rising urbanisation that increases the availability of cheap and ready-to-eat foods that are often also high in fat, sugar and salt, a factor in malnutrition.
Lack of fruit and vegetables, the exclusion of small farmers and the loss of land are other negative factors linked to the progressive concentration of people in the big cities.
This change also presents opportunities, because urban activities generate income, especially for women and young people, improving the variety of foods. And for farmers, there is often better access to means of production.
According to current forecasts, some 600 million people will still be chronically undernourished by 2030. This is at least 119 million more had the pandemic and the Ukraine war not occurred.
The small post-pandemic economic recovery of 2021 was slowed by the outbreak of war in Europe, which involved two of the largest exporters of global agricultural products, Ukraine and Russia.
Food prices peaked in March 2022 and continue to be high, especially hurting countries that depend on food imports.
Due to higher fertiliser prices (exported mainly from Russia), spending on food imports came to cost US$ 2 trillion in 2022, a 10 per cent increase over the previous year and a trend that is expected to continue in the coming years.
As a result of global economic trends, hunger levels around the world have largely remained unchanged. At the same time while employment in low-income countries has increased with the economic recovery, rising food prices are now eroding gains and reducing access to food.
In the long run, however, according to FAO, many families may be able to adapt their consumption patterns and farmers may even see an improvement in their situation by benefiting from higher prices for their products.
The situation is not the same everywhere. In Western Asia, for example, many countries have benefited from higher oil revenues, but these have not always translated into less hunger due to political instability and rising inflation.
In Southern Asia, on the other hand, persistent economic growth, especially in the agricultural sector, has probably outrun inflation, thus contributing to an overall improvement in food security.
Several governments in the region have also adopted policy measures that have contributed to the overall improvement, including the supply of fertilisers, the provision of grain subsidies to vulnerable population groups, and cutting customs duties on imported grains.
Thanks to these developments, the number of undernourished people in Asia could dramatically fall to 242 million by 2030.
.png)
