Acute food insecurity increased in 2022, affecting 258 million people in 58 countries, according to the latest global report from the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC). The figure represents an increase of 65 million people compared to the previous year and marks the fourth consecutive year that this figure has risen. People in seven countries faced catastrophic levels of acute hunger at some point in 2022, with more than half of them in Somalia.
In addition, economic shocks overtook conflict and extreme weather events as drivers of acute food insecurity and malnutrition around the world last year. The economies of poor countries have declined dramatically over the past three years and now face long recovery periods and reduced capacity to cope with future shocks. The repercussions of the war in Ukraine have particularly affected the most impoverished countries, dependent on food imports, whose fragile economic resilience had already been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said the findings show “humanity’s failure” to move towards food security. The GNAFC warns that the outlook is very worrying, and there is no sign that the drivers of food insecurity will abate by 2023, with climate change causing more extreme weather events and global and national economies facing a bleak outlook.