COVID-19 has had a further and profound impact on hunger and food security, triggered by disruptions in food supply chains, income losses, widening social inequities, an altered food environment and price hikes. Between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020, an increase of as many as 161 million from 2019.

The prevalence of undernourishment increased from 8.4 per cent in 2019 to 9.9 per cent in 2020. Hunger affects 21.0 per cent of the population in Africa, compared with 9.0 per cent in Asia and 9.1 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean. More than half of the world’s undernourished are found in Asia (418 million) and more than one-third in Africa (282 million).

Achieving food security goes beyond the eradication of hunger. Nearly one in three people in the world (2.37 billion) were affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in 2020, an increase of almost 320 million from 2019. Such levels indicate that people are unable to eat a healthy, balanced diet on a regular basis, or that they run out of food and, at worst, go a day or days without eating. The highest levels of food insecurity were found in sub-Saharan Africa (66.2 per cent), while prevalence rose fastest in Latin America and Caribbean – from 24.9 per cent in 2014 to 40.9 per cent in 2020. The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity being 10 per cent higher among women than men in 2020, compared with 6 per cent in 2019.

Small-scale food producers constitute the majority of food producers in the 37 countries surveyed; in some countries, they account for up to 91 per cent. Strengthening the resilience and adaptability of these small farmers is critical to reversing the trend towards rising hunger and reducing the share of people living in extreme poverty. Data from 11 countries show that the average labour productivity of small-scale food producers is lower than that of large-scale producers. Moreover, large-scale producers earn two to three times the annual income of small farmers. In almost all countries surveyed, households headed by men achieve higher labour productivity and earn a larger annual income than those headed by women. For example, in Bangladesh, households headed by women earn on average only half of the agricultural income of households headed by men, whereas in Bulgaria, the difference is threefold.

Children are considered stunted, or chronically malnourished, when they are too short for their age. In 2020,¹ 22 per cent of children under age 5 worldwide (149.2 million) suffered from stunting. This proportion is down from 33.1 per cent in 2000 and 24.4 per cent in 2015. These figures are based on the latest estimates, but the actual number of children affected is likely to be higher due to continued constraints in accessing nutritious diets and essential nutrition services during the pandemic. The full impact of the crisis on childhood stunting could take years to manifest.

The three regions with the highest stunting prevalence were Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) at 41.4 per cent, sub-Saharan Africa (32.3 per cent) and Central and Southern Asia (29.8 per cent). The latter two regions accounted for nearly three quarters of all stunted children globally. Particular attention needs to be focused on these regions since the pandemic is affecting the most vulnerable children disproportionately.