After rising sharply from 2019 to 2021, global hunger, measured by the prevalence of undernourishment, persisted at nearly the same level for three years, affecting 9.1 per cent of the population in 2023 compared with 7.5 per cent in 2019. Between 713 and 757 million people faced hunger in 2023 —one in 11 people globally, and one in five in Africa. Moreover, an estimated 28.9 per cent of the world’s population, or 2.33 billion people, were moderately or severely food insecure in 2023 — 383 million more than in 2019.

Malnutrition among children under age 5 remains a significant concern, posing heightened risks to their growth and development. Globally in 2022, an estimated 22.3 per cent of children under age 5, or 148 million, were affected by stunting (being too short for their age), down from 24.6 per cent in 2015.

Based on current trends, 1 out of 5 (19.5 per cent) of children under age 5 will be affected by stunting in 2030. Some 37 million children (5.6 per cent) were overweight, while 45 million (6.8 per cent) experienced wasting, above the global target of 3 per cent by 2030. Three quarters of children under age 5 with stunting lived in Central and Southern Asia (36.7 per cent) and sub-Saharan Africa (38.3 per cent). More than half of those affected by wasting lived in Central and Southern Asia (56.2 per cent) and almost one quarter in sub-Saharan Africa (22.9 per cent).

To achieve Goal 2, significant efforts are needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change, conflict and economic crisis. Record-high food prices in 2022 worsened purchasing power and access to food, negatively impacting food security and nutritional outcomes. Increased global public expenditure on agriculture was at least one positive trend.

Productive and sustainable agriculture is key to ensuring the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs in present and future generations. To assess global progress in sustainable agriculture, the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators adopted a new set of seven subindicators covering economic, social and environmental dimensions. Data from 2021 suggested that the world was at a moderate distance from achieving productive and sustainable agriculture (with a score of 3.4 out of 5) and had witnessed a slight improvement since 2015. Regional disparities were evident, however, with the highest score of 4.1 in Europe and Northern America compared to the lowest score of 2.6 in the LDCs. While more detailed analysis is required to investigate the root causes of varying rates of progress, evidence suggests that all regions urgently need to take sustained, concerted actions to improve productive and sustainable agriculture by 2030. They otherwise risk missing the target by a wide margin.

Government spending reflects national priorities and can directly respond to economic and social challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters or inflation. Between 2015 and 2022, global government spending on agriculture increased steadily, reaching a record high of $749 billion in 2022. Government expenditure on agriculture relative to the sector's GDP contribution, as measured by the agriculture orientation index, declined from 0.5 in 2015 to 0.43 in 2021 before rebounding to 0.48 in 2022. The pandemic contributed to the fall as government resources were allocated to other sectors.

From 2015 to 2022, the volume of aid for agriculture provided to developing countries increased by 47.2 per cent, from $12.3 billion to $18.1 billion (in constant 2022 prices). A 33 per cent increase from 2021 to 2022 was primarily driven by agricultural development projects and initiatives in agricultural policy, administrative management and financial services. Notably, Africa accounted for 65 per cent of the increase in 2022, mainly due to non-concessional loans for agricultural development projects from the Islamic Development Bank in Egypt.