Report: Hunger reached record high in 2021, may worsen in 2022

Hunger levels in 2021 surpassed all previous records, and the situation is expected to worsen this year due to the war in Ukraine, according to a report released Wednesday.

The 2022 “Global Report on Food Crises,” compiled by the Global Network Against Food Crises — an international alliance that includes the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Food Programme — found that around 193 million people were acutely food-insecure and in need of urgent assistance across 53 countries and territories in 2021. That’s an increase of nearly 40 million people from 2020.

In addition, over half a million people were facing catastrophe levels of acute food insecurity, characterized by starvation and death, across Ethiopia, South Sudan, southern Madagascar, and Yemen — four times more than in 2020. This year, acute food insecurity around the world is expected to deteriorate further due to the conflict in Ukraine and its repercussions for food, energy, and fertilizer prices.

David Beasley, WFP’s executive director, attributed the rising hunger numbers to conflict.

“That’s so heartbreaking if you think about all the hard work that’s been taking place, what we’ve been doing around the world to truly make it a more stable and food-secure planet,” he said. “And now it's going backwards for several years back to back, and it is because of man-made conflict.”

Though the report found that the food crises behind the statistics were driven by many factors, conflict and insecurity remained the most prominent cause. Around 139 million people faced crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity across two dozen countries and territories where conflict and insecurity were considered the primary driver — 40 million more than in 2020. Conflict was also the key driver in three of the four countries with populations experiencing catastrophe levels.

Economic shocks were the main driver of acute food insecurity in 21 countries, while extreme weather was the primary cause for eight African countries.

Qu Dongyu, director-general of FAO, said this year’s report demonstrated “just how devastating the combination of conflict, climate extremes, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been on the most vulnerable people.”

Though the effects of the war in Ukraine were not factored into country projections in the report, as many as 181 million people this year are already forecast to be in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity in 41 of the 53 countries and territories surveyed. Forecasts were not available for the 12 other countries and territories. As many as 5 million people in Ukraine are anticipated to need humanitarian assistance in the near term.

“When we put all of this together, taking the numbers from these 41 countries, taking the numbers of all the countries which are already affected, and then taking the numbers of the Ukraine crisis — the world is exploding with food insecurity,” said Arif Husain, WFP’s chief economist.

“Major deteriorations are anticipated in northern Nigeria, Yemen, Burkina Faso and the Niger due to conflict, as well as in Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia,” which have been battered by consecutive below-average rainy seasons, the report said.

“The numbers that we are looking at are going to get worse,” Beasley said.

The report called for supporting sustainable food systems and for the international community to “mobilize the investments and political will needed to collectively address the causes and consequences of escalating food crises across humanitarian, development and peace perspectives.”

“If we don't get ahead of this thing, we will have not just famine in multiple countries around the world,” Beasley warned, “but you will have destabilization of some nations and you will have mass migration by necessity — and no one wants that.”