Rising food prices sees increased numbers of people going hungry worldwide

Jul 15, 2022

With the collaboration of Statista.

Hunger lingers for millions of underemployed, low-income Americans. Picture taken November 10, 2021. REUTERS/Christopher Walljasper

The number of malnourished people has increased for the sixth year in a row to around 768 million. Image: REUTERS/Christopher Walljasper

Katharina Buchholz

Data Journalist, Statista

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The number of malnourished people has increased for the sixth year in a row to around 768 million.
Food prices are being pushed up the war in Ukraine, World Food Programme director David Beasley warned.
Hunger was most widespread in Africa where it affects 2% of the population.

Progress in fighting world hunger has continued to stall. At yesterday's (6 July) release of the Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, World Food Programme director David Beasley said that the result of rising food prices due to the war in Ukraine would be "global destabilisation, starvation, and mass migration on an unprecedented scale", urging world leaders to act to avert catastrophe.

Last year, the number of malnourished people worldwide increased for the sixth year in a row to a medium projection of around 768 million. At the high estimate of 828 million, 10 percent of the world population would have been affected by hunger in 2021.

Hunger was most widespread in Africa where it affects 20 percent of the population while 9 percent of people across Asia are also impacted by it. The disruption of global grain supply chains by the Russian invasion of Ukraine is believed to predominantly affect countries already struggling with nutrition problems, as many of the poorest countries are grain importers.

Graph showing number of people undernourished from 2005 to 2020

Last year, the number of malnourished people worldwide increased to around 768 million people. Image: Statista

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What is the World Economic Forum doing to help ensure global food security?

Two billion people in the world currently suffer from malnutrition and according to some estimates, we need 60% more food to feed the global population by 2050. Yet the agricultural sector is ill-equipped to meet this demand: 700 million of its workers currently live in poverty, and it is already responsible for 70% of the world’s water consumption and 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

New technologies could help our food systems become more sustainable and efficient, but unfortunately the agricultural sector has fallen behind other sectors in terms of technology adoption.

Launched in 2018, the Forum’s Innovation with a Purpose Platform is a large-scale partnership that facilitates the adoption of new technologies and other innovations to transform the way we produce, distribute and consume our food.

With research, increasing investments in new agriculture technologies and the integration of local and regional initiatives aimed at enhancing food security, the platform is working with over 50 partner institutions and 1,000 leaders around the world to leverage emerging technologies to make our food systems more sustainable, inclusive and efficient.

Learn more about Innovation with a Purpose's impact and contact us to see how you can get involved.

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