UN report: Global malnutrition is on the rise
Hanna Helder studied German language and literature at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg. In addition to her studies, she has gained a lot of experience in radio and print journalism through internships and freelance work. She has been at the Burda School of Journalism since October 2018 and writes, among other things, as a trainee for
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.By 2030 the world should be freed from hunger. But now the number of undernourished is increasing - to 690 million. In 2020, the corona crisis and a plague of locusts will further exacerbate the situation.
Hunger worldwide is on the rise. At least one in eleven people is currently undernourished, according to the United Nations World Food Report. This includes millions of children who do not get enough to eat to grow up healthy. Overall, in their study, the experts estimate that around 690 million people were undernourished in 2019 - just under nine percent of the world's population.
Corona crisis and locust plague exacerbate the situation
Due to the Corona crisis, 83 to 132 million people could also suffer serious hardship, warned five UN authorities, including the World Food Organization FAO in Rome.
"Since 2014, the number of hungry people around the world has increased slowly," says the report for 2020. The increase since then has been almost 60 million people - that's about the population of Italy. In 2017 and 2018, conflicts and extreme climates had a negative impact on food security. When the previous year increased by around ten million undernourished people, economic crises were the decisive factor.
For 2020, the corona pandemic and an "unprecedented plague of locusts" in East Africa clouded the outlook drastically. "The situation can only get worse if we do not act urgently," write the heads of the five UN organizations.
Most of them go hungry in Asia, while the number is growing fastest in Africa
In addition to the FAO, the children's aid organization Unicef, the UN health organization WHO, the aid fund Ifad and the World Food Program WFP have compiled data for the new report. According to the experts, Asia is home to the most hungry people (around 380 million). However, the continent has made progress in the fight against hunger. In Africa, on the other hand, the number is growing fastest.
According to the study, one in four people - or around two billion men, women and children - have starved in their lives or at times did not know where their food for the next week should come from. Often times, if the problem affects children, they will suffer lifelong damage to their health. The report states that an estimated 144 million under five-year-olds (21 percent) were too small in 2019 due to food shortages. Another 47 million (7 percent) in the age group were underweight for their size. Find out more about malnutrition and its consequences here.
Dangerous trend
Six years ago the FAO had spoken of a ray of hope in the fight against hunger and of falling numbers. The goal of the international community to stop hunger by 2030 remains a long way off with the new forecasts. On the contrary: if the trend of previous studies continues, there could be more than 840 million malnourished in ten years.
Course correction in the fight against hunger
"This hunger crisis is not fueled by bad harvests, but by bad politics," judged the aid organization Oxfam. She called on the German government to "correct course in the fight against hunger". Mathias Mogge, Secretary General of Welthungerhilfe, warned: "The consequences of Covid-19 are not yet shown in these current figures for 2019. But we know that the pandemic is destroying the existence of millions of families. "(Hh / dpa)
