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Global hunger levels to stay high for another 136 years - Global Hunger Index 2024
Hunger levels will remain high in many of the world’s poorest countries for another 136 years if the lack of progress made to feed the world stays the same, according to this year's Global Hunger Index.
The 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI) found that at least 64 countries will not reach even low hunger levels until the year 2160, if progress to tackle hunger remains at the same pace observed since 2016.
It reveals that hunger levels are at serious or alarming levels in 42 countries and that progress in addressing hunger has stagnated.
Conflicts have led to exceptional food crises and raised the spectre of famine in countries and territories like Gaza and Sudan (where there is already famine in the North Darfur region) the GHI warns.
The sobering report - published by humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide and German aid agency Welthungerhilfe – states that the chances of achieving zero hunger by 2030, a goal set by UN member states in 2012, are “grim” and unlikely.
Of the 136 countries examined, 36 have levels considered serious while six at the bottom of the index have alarming hunger levels, indicating widespread human misery, undernourishment, and malnutrition. They are Somalia, Yemen, Chad, Madagascar, Burundi and South Sudan.
It states that in 2023, 281.6 million people in 59 countries and territories faced crisis-level or acute food insecurity including Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and Burkina Faso, which are all countries where Concern supports the most vulnerable people.
It also states that Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia are the regions with the worst levels of hunger.
The report shows that there has been notable progress made to tackle hunger between 2000 - 2016, which shows how much can be accomplished in just a decade and a half – however it notes that this progress has slowed over the last eight years.
“Many of the countries Concern works in are facing levels of hunger that we haven’t seen in years,” said Concern (UK)’s Executive Director, Sayyeda Salam. “Conflict and climate change have had a devastating impact on the fight against hunger, and progress has stalled as a result.
“It is unthinkable that global hunger continues to exist on such a wide scale, and we cannot ignore these families and communities that are in need of our support.
“Governments must invest in action that addresses the right of all people to feed themselves.”
This year’s GHI report highlights the links between gender inequality, food insecurity and climate change, showing how these challenges combine and put households, communities and countries under extreme stress.
The report contains an essay by academics from universities in England, the Netherlands and Ghana outlining how “gender justice” and equality are central to effective climate action and food systems transformation.
“We know that gender inequality is worse in countries where people live in extreme poverty, and this year’s GHI report demonstrates how gender inequality and global hunger go hand in hand,” Sayyeda Salam said.
“When women have access to resources and joint decision-making power in their marriage, rates of household food security, childhood nutrition, and overall well-being improve.
“Achieving gender justice and ensuring equity for all people is essential to making progress to end global hunger.”
The GHI, now in its 19th year, ranks countries based on recorded levels of undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.
To read the 2024 GHI report visit https://www.globalhungerindex.org/.
Ten countries with alarming and serious levels of hunger (highest levels of hunger) in the 2024 Global Hunger Index:
- South Sudan - Alarming
- Burundi - Alarming
- Somalia - Alarming
- Yemen - Alarming
- Chad - Alarming
- Madagascar - Alarming
- Lesotho -Serious
- DR Congo - Serious
- Haiti -Serious
- Niger - Serious
For more information or interview requests, please contact Nicole Bayes-Fleming at [email protected]