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The State of the Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2024

Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published on Wednesday by five United Nations specialized agencies.

Language English

Duration 4m15s

Edit Version International

Video Type Video News Release (VNR)

Date 07/22/2024 2:43 PM

File size 561.12 MB

Unique ID UF17EKI

Production details and shotlist

Shotlist STORY: FAO / FOOD SECURITY REPORT
TRT: 4:15
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN /UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 24 JULY 14.00 ROME TIME
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 JULY 2024, ROME, ITALY / RECENT

SHOTLIST:

AUGUST 2022, JANAKPUR MADHESH PROVINCE, NEPAL
1. Pan left, weekly market

8 APRIL 2024, GAZA STRIP
2. Med shot, livestock keeper putting animal feed into a container

2 JULY 2024, KAPOETA, SOUTH SUDAN
3. Wide shot, women gathering water

FILE – FAO, ROME, ITALY
4. Wide shot, FAO Headquarters
5. Zoom in, FAO logo

18 JULY 2024, ROME ITALY
6. SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist: “Sadly, this year, the SOFI is showing that the numbers have not changed from the previous years, basically, which were already years where we have seen already the increase because of COVID 19. So what we are reporting this year is that we have between 713 million and 757 million people which are chronically undernourished, people facing hunger. This is one out of 11 people in the world are facing hunger. But the other issue which is really important of this SOFI is the disparities. For example, the region which is doing the worst is the African region, where we have one in five people facing hunger this year.”

6 MARCH 2024, DOLOW, GEDO, SOMALIA
7. Aerial shot, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp

1-5 OCTOBER 2023, KAPOETA SOUTH COUNTY, SOUTH SUDAN
8. Wide shot, woman preparing a meal

11-15 JULY 2022, TIMOR-LESTE
9. Med shot, farmers planting velvet beans
10. Close up, corn in a bag

16 JUNE 2018, CHIQUIMULA MUNICIPALITY, GUATEMALA
11. Med shot, personnel serving milk in a school feeding programme
12. Wide shot, children having lunch

18 JULY 2024, ROME ITALY
13. SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist: “South America has very developed social protection programs that allows them to target interventions so they can effectively move out of hunger in a very fast way because it is efficient. In the case of Africa, we have not observed that. We have observed that they still don't have the institutionality to deliver a good targeted social protection program. But on the other hand, is a region that has been affected the most by conflicts and by climate and, of course, by [economic] slowdowns and downturns. It is a region that today is showing the bigger number of countries in food crises because of these three key drivers and conflict being the first in this sense.”

2 MAY 2024, ASSOMADA, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE
14. Pan right, fruits and vegetables being sold in a food market

26-29 APRIL 2022, PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN PROVINCE, THAILAND
15. Close up, fish being sold in a fish market
16. Med shot, customer buying fish

18 MAY 2024, COLOMBIA
17. Tilt down, woman feeding children

2 JULY 2024, KAPOETA, SOUTH SUDAN
18. Wide shot, meals being distributed in a school

2019, ARARAT PROVINCE, ARMENIA
19. Wide shot, children eating lunch at the school canteen

18 JULY 2024, ROME ITALY
20. SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist: “Today we have 2.8 billion people that don't have access to the minimum cost of a healthy diet. The number is extremely high, it has not improved relative to the previous years, and that tells us that we need to do a lot here. We need to change this paradigm, why countries have prices which are so high that don't allow people to consume, and also why income is a problem.”

20 JUNE 2024, KHAN YUNIS, GAZA
21. Pan right, farmer walking by his destroyed house
22. Med shot, destroyed house

09 – 14 APRIL 2023, BORANA, ETHIOPIA
23. Wide shot, wind blowing on a dry riverbed

23 MAY 2022, NETRAKONA PROVINCE, BANGLADESH
24. Aerial shot, river overflowing

4 JULY 2024, TEREKEKA, SOUTH SUDAN
25. Tracking shot, FAO boat on the Nile
09 – 14 APRIL 2023, BORANA, ETHIOPIA
26. Med shot, FAO staff talking with farmers

4-6 APRIL 2024, GAZA STRIP
27. Close up, animal fodder being poured into a bag
28. Med shot, FAO staff helping a farmer carry a fodder bag

18 JULY 2024, ROME ITALY
29. SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist: “We need to change how we finance hunger in the world. And that's why we need to find ways in which we can accelerate the financing. But we need several things to happen. First, we need to coordinate better. Donors and different agencies provide funding with different objectives in mind, and that needs to be improved. We need to increase coordination as well as we need to increase targeting. Second, we need to be more risk takers. We are too risk adverse in the way we allocate the resources. Sometimes it is necessary to take some risk. For example, to sacrifice a little bit of growth to be able to assure that you have better lower poverty and therefore less hunger in the world. And third, we need to increase the different ways in which we get financing.”

AUGUST 2023, CHOLUTECA, HONDURAS
30. Aerial shot, FAO staff checking a water storage pond

23 MAY 2022, NETRAKONA PROVINCE, BANGLADESH
31. Wide shot, FAO staff meeting farmers hit by floods

29 APRIL, SANTA CRUZ, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE
32. Wide shot, FAO-China South-South Cooperation project experts walking in a cultivated field

1-5 OCTOBER 2023, KAPOETA SOUTH COUNTY, SOUTH SUDAN
33. Pull focus, from FAO logo on a veterinarian coverall to livestock keepers vaccinating a goat

Script Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published on Wednesday by five United Nations specialized agencies.

The annual report, launched this year in the context of the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty Task Force first Ministerial Meeting in Brazil, warns the world is falling significantly short of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger, by 2030. The report shows that the world has been set back 15 years, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those in 2008-2009.

Maximo Torero, Chief Economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), explains that, despite some progress in specific areas, an alarming number of people continue to face food insecurity and malnutrition as global hunger levels have plateaued for three consecutive years, with between 713 and 757 million people undernourished—approximately 152 million more than in 2019 when considering the mid-range (733 million).

SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist:
“Sadly, this year, the SOFI is showing that the numbers have not changed from the previous years, basically, which were already years where we have seen already the increase because of COVID 19. So what we are reporting this year is that we have between 713 million and 757 million people which are chronically undernourished, people facing hunger. This is one out of 11 people in the world are facing hunger. But the other issue which is really important of this SOFI is the disparities. For example, the region which is doing the worst is the African region, where we have one in five people facing hunger this year.”

Regional trends vary significantly: hunger continues to rise in Africa, remains stable in Asia—still representing a significant challenge—and shows progress in Latin America. However, from 2022 to 2023, hunger increased in Western Asia, the Caribbean, and most African subregions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist:
“South America has very developed social protection programs that allows them to target interventions so they can effectively move out of hunger in a very fast way because it is efficient.
In the case of Africa, we have not observed that. We have observed that they still don't have the institutionality to deliver a good targeted social protection program. But on the other hand, is a region that has been affected the most by conflicts and by climate and, of course, by [economic] slowdowns and downturns. It is a region that today is showing the bigger number of countries in food crises because of these three key drivers and conflict being the first in this sense.”

If current trends continue, about 582 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, half of them in Africa, the report warns. This projection closely resembles the levels seen in 2015 when the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted, marking a concerning stagnation in progress.

The report highlights that access to adequate food remains elusive for billions. In 2023, around 2.33 billion people globally faced moderate or severe food insecurity, a number that hasn't changed significantly since the sharp upturn in 2020, in the mist of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those, over 864 million people experienced severe food insecurity, going without food for an entire day or more at times. This number has remained stubbornly high since 2020 and while Latin America shows improvement, broader challenges persist, especially in Africa where 58 percent of the population is moderately or severely food insecure.

The lack of economic access to healthy diets also remains a critical issue, affecting over one-third of the global population. With new food price data and methodological improvements, the publication reveals that last year, over 2.8 billion people were unable to afford a healthy diet. This disparity is most pronounced in low-income countries, where 71.5 percent of the population cannot afford a healthy diet, compared to 6.3 percent in high-income countries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist:
“Today we have 2.8 billion people that don't have access to the minimum cost of a healthy diet. The number is extremely high, it has not improved relative to the previous years, and that tells us that we need to do a lot here. We need to change this paradigm, why countries have prices which are so high that don't allow people to consume, and also why income is a problem.”

While progress has been made in increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates among infants to 48%, achieving global nutrition targets will be a challenge. Low birthweight prevalence has stagnated around 15%, and stunting among children under five, while declining to 22.3%, still exceeds targets. Additionally, the prevalence of wasting among children has not seen significant improvement while anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years has increased.

Similarly, new estimates of adult obesity show a steady increase over the last decade, from 12.1 percent (2012) to 15.8 percent (2022). Projections indicate that by 2030, the world will have more than 1.2 billion obese adults. The double burden of malnutrition – the co-existence of undernutrition together with overweight and obesity – has also surged globally across all age groups. Thinness and underweight have declined in the last two decades, while obesity has risen sharply.

These trends underscore the complex challenges of malnutrition and the urgent need for targeted interventions as the world is not on track to reach any of the seven global nutrition targets by 2030, the five agencies indicate.

Food insecurity and malnutrition are worsening due to a combination of factors, including persisting food price inflation that continues to erode economic gains for many people in many countries, the report notes. Major drivers like conflict, climate change, and economic downturns are becoming more frequent and severe. These issues, along with underlying factors such as unaffordable healthy diets and persistent inequality, are now happening simultaneously, amplifying their individual effects.

This year’s report’s theme “Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition’’, emphasizes that achieving SDG 2 Zero Hunger requires a multi-faceted approach, including transforming and strengthening agrifood systems, addressing inequalities, and ensuring affordable and accessible healthy diets for all. Crucially, it calls for increased and more cost-effective financing, with a clear and standardized definition of financing for food security and nutrition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist:
“We need to change how we finance hunger in the world. And that's why we need to find ways in which we can accelerate the financing. But we need several things to happen. First, we need to coordinate better. Donors and different agencies provide funding with different objectives in mind, and that needs to be improved. We need to increase coordination as well as we need to increase targeting. Second, we need to be more risk takers. We are too risk adverse in the way we allocate the resources. Sometimes it is necessary to take some risk. For example, to sacrifice a little bit of growth to be able to assure that you have better lower poverty and therefore less hunger in the world. And third, we need to increase the different ways in which we get financing.”

Countries most in need of increased financing face significant challenges in accessing it. Among the 119 low- and middle-income countries analyzed, approximately 63 percent have limited or moderate access to financing. Additionally, the majority of these countries (74 percent) are impacted by one or more major factors contributing to food insecurity and malnutrition. Coordinated efforts to harmonize data, increase risk tolerance, and enhance transparency are vital to bridge this gap and strengthen global food security and nutrition frameworks.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World is an annual report jointly prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

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