Almost one in nine humans suffered from chronic undernourishment in 2019, a proportion that is expected to worsen due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an annual UN report published on Monday July 13.

According to the latest estimates, hunger last year affected around 690 million people, or 8.9% of the world's population, says a report by the Food and Food Organization of the United Nations. 'agriculture (FAO), written with the assistance of the International Fund for the Development of Agriculture, UNICEF, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization. This total represents an increase of 10 million people compared to 2018 and 60 million compared to 2014.

"If the trend continues, it is estimated that by 2030 that number will exceed 840 million people. This clearly means that the goal [to end hunger by 2030, established by the UN in 2015, editor's note] is not on track, "said Thibault Meilland, a policy analyst at FAO.

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And that was without counting the health and economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused cascading loss of income, increased food prices, disrupted supply chains ...

According to the report, the global recession due to the new coronavirus is likely to drive hunger between 83 and 132 million more people. "These are still relatively conservative assumptions, the situation is evolving," notes Thibault Meilland.

Integration of new data

The estimate of undernourishment in the world is much lower than in previous editions: last year's report mentioned more than 820 million hungry people. However, the figures cannot be compared: the integration of newly accessible data - in particular from surveys carried out by China on households in the country - has led to the revision of all estimates since 2000.

"This is not a drop [in the number of people suffering from undernourishment], it is a revision. Everything has been recalculated on the basis of these new figures", insists Thibault Meilland. "As China represents a fifth of the world's population, this update has important consequences for the global figures," points out the FAO analyst.

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"Even if the overall figure is lower," the observation of an increase in undernourishment since 2014 "is confirmed," he adds.

Among the areas for improvement, the prevalence of stunting among five-year-olds fell by a third between 2000 and 2019, with around 21% of children affected worldwide today. Over 90% of them live in Asia or Africa.

Two billion people suffer from "food insecurity"

Beyond undernutrition, the report points out that a growing number of people "have had to reduce the quantity and quality of the food they eat". Two billion people thus suffer from "food insecurity", that is to say that they do not regularly have access to nutritious food in sufficient quality and quantity, it is indicated.

Even more (3 billion) do not have the means to afford a diet considered to be balanced, with in particular sufficient intakes of fruits and vegetables.

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"On average, a healthy diet costs five times more than a diet that only meets energy needs with basic starchy foods," reports Thibault Meilland. Corollary: obesity is increasing both in adults and in children.

Specialized UN agencies estimate that if food consumption patterns do not change, their impact on direct healthcare costs and loss of economic productivity should reach 1,300 billion dollars (1,144 billion euros during current) per year by 2030.

With AFP

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