COVID-19 HAS exacerbated what was already a worsening situation. The most recent data—collected in 2020 and published in mid-2021—shows that up to 811 million people were chronically undernourished as the pandemic swept the world, halting economic activity, disrupting supply chains and deepening poverty. At this rate, chances of reaching Zero Hunger by 2030, as envisioned under Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), appear to be receding further—although a UN Food Systems Summit in 2021 did generate new political momentum.

While the whole world was affected, not all regions suffered equally. In 2020, more than half of all undernourished people (418 million) lived in Asia; more than a third (282 million) in Africa; and a smaller proportion (60 million) in Latin America and the Caribbean. The sharpest rise in hunger was in Africa, where the estimated prevalence of undernourishment, at 21% of the population, was more than double that of any other region.

The five regional reports of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) State of food security and nutrition: statistics and trends, offer unprecedented access to disaggregated statistics for anyone interested in understanding and ending hunger and malnutrition in all their forms.