Coronavirus could cause more than 80 million people to go hungry

The coronavirus pandemic could push between 80 and 130 million people worldwide into hunger by the end of the year, according to a report released this week by five United Nations agencies warning that malnutrition is a growing problem. 

The report, entitled "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World", produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) - all three based in Rome - together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), warns that the health crisis "is intensifying the vulnerability and inequity of the world's food systems", from production, to distribution and consumption. 

Thus, it estimates that by the end of 2020, between 83 and 132 million people "could go hungry" due to the economic recession resulting from the pandemic, although it is stressed that "it is still too early to assess the real impact" of trade restrictions and blockades. The forecast is based on estimates indicating a collapse in global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of between 4.9% and 10%. Therefore, it is concluded that this unforeseen circumstance "puts even more at risk" the possibility of reaching the Zero Hunger goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Beyond the pandemic, world hunger is a growing problem. Data show that chronic hunger began to increase "slowly" in 2014 and continues to do so today, after decreasing for decades. In 2019, an estimated 690 million people were hungry worldwide, 10 million more than in 2018 and almost 60 million more in the last five years (this figure is based on updated and corrected figures for China and other highly populated countries). 

Asia, the most populous region in the world, has the highest number of undernourished people (381 million), followed by Africa (250 million) and Latin America and the Caribbean (48 million). The overall percentage of hungry people changed little, standing at 8.9%, although the number of undernourished people increased. This indicates that, over the last five years, hunger has increased at a similar rate to that of the world's population. 

The document reveals "large regional disparities" in percentage terms. Africa is the region most affected by hunger, with 19.1% of its population undernourished, more than double the rate in Asia (8.3%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (7.4%). If this current trend continues, half of the world's chronically hungry people will be Africans by 2030. 

Agencies argue that tackling hunger or malnutrition in all its forms, such as obesity or micronutrient deficiencies, is not just about providing enough food to survive. It must be "nutritious", especially for children. They point out that "a key obstacle" to that goal is "the high cost" of beneficial foods and that healthy diets are unaffordable for "a large number of families". 

Estimates reflect that some 3 billion people "cannot afford a healthy diet", especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but the problem also extends to Europe and North America. By 2019, between a quarter and a third of children under five, some 191 million, were experiencing developmental problems, while another 38 million were overweight.