Sustainable Development Goals 2: Zero Hunger

 End hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, 650 million people were going hungry, with another 2 billion facing food insecurity - statistics that had been steadily climbing since 2014. Additional concerns to global food security and nutrition have emerged as a result of the crisis. Food systems throughout the world have been damaged by disrupted food supply chains and economic slowdowns, threatening people's access to food and putting the goal of ending hunger even more out of reach. Due to a loss of household income, a shortage of adequate and inexpensive nutritious food reduced physical activity, and interruptions in important nutrition services, COVID19 is likely to increase all kinds of malnutrition, particularly in children. Even if the impacts of COVID19 are taken into account, over 230 million children are starving. To avoid increased hunger, immediate short-term steps are essential, as is a reform of food systems to ensure a healthy and sustainable food future for all.

The effect of the pandemic increased rates of hunger and food insecurity  

COVID-19 has had a more significant impact on hunger and food security, due to disruptions in food supply chains, income losses, expanding socioeconomic disparities, a changing food environment, and price increases. In 2020, between 720 and 811 million people throughout the world will be hungry, up from 161 million in 2019. Undernourishment rates climbed from 8.4 per cent in 2019 to 9.9 per cent in 2020. Africa has a hunger rate of 21.0 per cent, compared to 9.0 per cent in Asia and 9.1 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean. More than half of the world undernourished (418 million) live in Asia, while more than a third live in Africa (282 million)

Food security requires more than just eliminating hunger. In 2020, over one-third of the world's population (2.37 billion) was burdened by moderate or severe food insecurity, up to about 320 million from 2019. Such levels suggest that people are unable to consume a good, balanced diet on a regular basis, or that they have run out of food and, in the worst-case scenario, have gone a day or more without eating. Sub-Saharan Africa had the greatest levels of food insecurity (66.2%), while Latin America and the Caribbean had the fastest increase in incidence – from 24.9 per cent in 2014 to 40.9 per cent in 2020. In 2020, women will be 10% more likely than males to experience moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 6% in 2019.