The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024

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Table of Contents

• COVER 1
• FOREWORD 9
• METHODOLOGY 11
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 12
• ABBREVIATIONS 15
• KEY MESSAGES 18
• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 20
• CHAPTER 1 Introduction 33
• CHAPTER 2 Food security and nutrition around the world 35
• 2.1 Food security indicators – latest updates and progress towards ending hunger and ensuring food security 35
• Key messages 35
• 2.2 Cost and affordability of a healthy diet 54
• Key messages 54
• 2.3 The state of nutrition: progress towards global nutrition targets 63
• Key messages 63
• CHAPTER 3 A new definition of financing for food security and nutrition 77
• Key messages 77
• 3.1 Challenges in defining and measuring financing for food security and nutrition 78
• 3.2 A new definition of financing for food security and nutrition 84
• CHAPTER 4 Current levels of and gaps in financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition 103
• Key messages 103
• 4.1 Tracking current levels of financing for food security and nutrition 105
• 4.2 The cost of policies and interventions to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030 123
• 4.3 The cost of inaction or slow action 129
• CHAPTER 5 What is needed to catalyse scalable financing to fill the gap? 137
• Key messages 137
• 5.1 Scaling up financing flows to food security and nutrition 138
• 5.2 Innovative financing approaches and tools to bridge the financing gap for SDG Targets 2.1 and 2.2 146
• 5.3 How to achieve better alignment with and synergies in differentsources of financing 163
• CHAPTER 6 The way forward 177
• ANNEXES 183
• ANNEX 1A Statistical tables to Chapter 2 184
• ANNEX 1B Methodological notes for the food security and nutrition indicators 230
• ANNEX 2 Glossary 251
• NOTES 259
• Notes on geographic regions in statistical tables in Chapter 2 and Annex 1 283
• Composition of geographic regions (countries and territories) 284
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• TABLES -1
• Table 1 Prevalence of undernourishment, 2005–2023 39
• Table 2 Number of undernourished people, 2005–2023 40
• Table 3 Prevalence of food insecurity at severe level only, and at moderate or severe level, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, 2015–2023 46
• Table 4 Number of people experiencing food insecurity at severe level only, and at moderate or severe level, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, 2015–2023 47
• Table 5 The average cost of a healthy diet, 2017–2022 57
• Table 6 Proportion of the population and number of people unable to afford a healthy diet, 2017–2022 61
• Table 7 Regional trends for the seven global nutrition targets 67
• Table 8 Matrix of different financing flows by source 85
• Table 9 Composition of public spending on food security and nutrition in Benin 112
• Table 10 Composition of public spending on food security and nutrition in Uganda 112
• Table 11 Composition of public spending on food security and nutrition in selected low- and middle-income countries 113
• Table 12 Global official development assistance and other official flows for all aid sectorsand for food security and nutrition 115
• Table 13 Destination of official development assistance and other official flows for food security and nutrition by recipient income group and region 118
• Table 14 Global official development assistance and other official flows for all aid sectors and for food security and nutrition 119
• Table 15 Growth and distribution of cross-border remittances that support food security and nutrition to low- and middle-income countries 119
• Table 16 Foreign direct investment specific to food security and nutrition flowing to developing economies 121
• Table 17 Overview of studies with cost estimates for ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition 125
• Table 18 Low- and middle-income countries’ degree of ability to access financing, considering food security and nutrition indicators and the major drivers 141
• TABLE A1.1 Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and global nutrition targets: prevalence of undernourishment, moderate or severe food insecurity, selected forms of malnutrition, exclusive breastfeeding and low birthweight 184
• TABLE A1.2 Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and global nutrition targets: number of people who are affected by undernourishment, moderate or severe food insecurity and selected forms of malnutrition; number of infants exclusively brea 199
• Table A1.3 Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity, and severe food insecurity only, by degree of urbanization in 2023 214
• Table A1.4 Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity, and severe food insecurity only, among adult men and women in 2023 215
• Table A1.5 The cost of a healthy diet by region, subregion, country and country income group, 2017–2021 216
• Table A1.6 Unaffordability of a healthy diet by region, subregion, country and country income group, 2017–2022 222
• FIGURES -1
• Figure 1 Global hunger rose sharply from 2019 to 2021 and persisted at the same level to 2023 37
• Figure 2 Progress was made towards reducing hunger in some subregions of Asia and in Latin America, but hunger is still on the rise in Western Asia, the Caribbean and most subregions of Africa 41
• Figure 3 Projected numbers of undernourished indicate that the world is far off track toachieve zero hunger by 2030 42
• Figure 4 Food insecurity levels remained virtually unchanged globally from 2022 to 2023, with Latin America and the Caribbean being the only region showing notable reduction 45
• Figure 5 The concentration and distribution of food insecurity by severity in 2023 DIFFERED greatly across the regions of the world 49
• Figure 6 Globally and in most regions, the prevalence of food insecurity is higher in rural areas than in urban areas 50
• Figure 7 The gender gap narrowed in most regions for two years in a row, but the prevalence of food insecurity has remained consistently higher among women than among men, globally and in all regions 51
• Figure 8 The proportion of the population and number of people unable to afford a healthy diet in the world decreased from 2020 to 2022 60
• Figure 9 Three-quarters of the people who are unable to afford a healthy diet live in low- and lower-middle-income countries 62
• Figure 10 Global stunting and wasting prevalences have been declining and levels of exclusive breastfeeding rising over the past decade, but the world is not on track to achieve any of the seven global nutrition targets by 2030 66
• Figure 11 More countries are off track than on track for most of the seven global nutrition targets 69
• Figure 12 Compared to the global estimates, least developed countries have much higher levels of stunting in children under age five and of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, and the same worrying rise in adult obesity 70
• Figure 13 Globally, obesity rates have risen sharply and thinness and underweight have declined among school-age children, adolescents, adults and the elderly 72
• Figure 14 Total official development assistance grants for low- and middle-income countries associated with different definitions of financing for food security and nutrition, 2021 79
• Figure 15 A conceptual diagram of the new definition of financing for food security and nutrition – for ending hunger and food insecurity (SDG Target 2.1) and all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2) 89
• Figure 16 The core definition of financing for food security and nutrition entails addressing the main determinants of food security and nutrition 1
• Figure 17 The increasing frequency and intensity of major drivers and income inequality in low- and middle-income countries, 2003–2022 92
• Figure 18 Hunger is higher and has increased the most in countries affected by the major drivers, and hunger increases are higher in poor countries affected by more than one major driver 95
• Figure 19 The extended definition of financing for food security and nutrition addresses the major drivers through policies and actions along six transformative pathways 98
• Figure 20 Application of the core and extended definitions of financing for food security and nutrition 100
• Figure 21 General domestic government expenditure on agriculture per rural inhabitant is extremely low and not clearly increasing in low- and lower-middle-income countries where it is mostly needed to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition 106
• Figure 22 General domestic government expenditure on agriculture per capita is negatively correlated with food security and undernutrition indicators, average 2017–2019 108
• Figure 23 Public spending on food security and nutrition shows almost steady growth in Benin up to 2021 110
• Figure 24 Public spending on food security and nutrition shows steady growth in Uganda, but this could not be sustained in 2022 111
• Figure 25 Official development assistance (ODA) and other official flows (OOF) for food security and nutrition represent less than a quarter of global ODA and OOF flows and are mostly allocated to food consumption and health 116
• Figure 26 The composition of official development assistance and other official flows for food security and nutrition is very stable over time 116
• Figure 27 Food availability, health services and environmental health, and conflict and inequality take the majority of the official development assistance and other official flows for, respectively, food consumption, health, and the major drivers of f 117
• Figure 28 Net banking loans to agriculture, forestry and fishing show an almost continuous decline 122
• Figure 29 Trillions of USD are estimated to be needed to finance investments for ending hunger and some forms of malnutrition, and TO INCREASE the affordability of healthy diets by 2030 127
• Figure 30 Summary of the methodology for assessing countries’ ability to access financing 139
• Figure 31 Risk gradient for financial stakeholders 142
• Figure 32 Which are the most adequate financing tools and mechanisms depending on the country context? 143
• Figure 33 Recommended innovative financing instruments for countries, considering their ability to access financing flows 148
• Figure 34 Recommendations for addressing the fragmentation of the current food security and nutrition financing architecture for ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition 167
• BOXES -1
• Box 1 Updates in the series of prevalence of undernourishment estimates 38
• Box 2 Deepening humanitarian crises increase acute food insecurity and threaten the right to adequate food in many places in the world 43
• Box 3 Is food insecurity severity associated with the properties of a healthy diet? Preliminary evidence from 28 countries 52
• Box 4 Ongoing improvements in the method to assess the affordability of a healthy diet 58
• Box 5 Double-duty actions to address the double burden of malnutrition 73
• Box 6 Brief definition of the financial terms used in this report 86
• Box 7 The definition of financing for food security and nutrition 88
• Box 8 Protracted major food crisis countries are severely affected by multiple major drivers and face among the highest levels of chronic food insecurity 96
• Box 9 Six transformation pathways to address the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition 99
• Box 10 Some private investments can have negative impacts on Sustainable Development Goal 2 120
• Box 11 The opportunity cost of not repurposing budget allocations for the agriculture and livestock sectors in six sub-Saharan African countries 132
• Box 12 Debt swaps for climate and food security and nutrition objectives 149
• Box 13 Insurance and guarantees, essential tools for de-risking food security and nutrition investments 150
• Box 14 Closing the gender gap in accessing financing flows and services 159
• Box 15 The Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility 160
• Box 16 Innovative social impact investment fund in Uganda 161
• Box 17 Leveraging tools to track progress in financing for food security and nutrition and agrifood systems 173
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• Supplementary material -1