A global food crisis
- In 71 countries in the world
- 309 million people are facing chronic hunger
The scale of the current global hunger and malnutrition crisis is enormous. Millions of people are in the grips of catastrophic hunger – primarily in Gaza and Sudan but also in pockets of South Sudan, Mali and many other countries. They are teetering on the brink of famine. Many food crises involve multiple overlapping issues that are building year on year.
What are the main causes of the global food crisis?
Conflict
Almost 70 percent of the 309 million people facing acute hunger are in fragile or conflict-hit countries. Violence and instability in the Middle East, East, Central and West Africa as well as in the Caribbean, southern Asia and Eastern Europe are particularly concerning.
Climate
The climate crisis is one of the leading causes of the steep rise in global hunger. Climate shocks destroy lives, crops and livelihoods, and undermine people’s ability to feed themselves. Hunger will spiral out of control if the world fails to take immediate climate action.
Economy
Sluggish global growth and economic stressors, linked to slow pandemic recovery and fallout from the war in Ukraine, continue to affect low and middle-income countries. This limits investment in social protection programmes, at a time when food remains very expensive in many countries.
Displacement
Forcibly displaced people face specific vulnerabilities in relation to food insecurity including limited access to employment, livelihoods, food and shelter, and reliance on dwindling humanitarian assistance.
How can we end the global food crisis?
A coordinated effort across governments, financial institutions, the private sector and partners is the only way to end the global food crisis. In countries such as Somalia, the international community came together and managed to pull people back. But it is not sufficient to only keep people alive. We must go further, and this can only be achieved by addressing the underlying causes of hunger.
WFP's work to build resilience, adapt to climate change, promote good nutrition and improve food systems lays the foundations of a more prosperous future for millions.
In just four years, WFP and local communities turned 158,000 hectares of barren fields in the Sahel region of five African countries into farm and grazing land. Our climate-insurance programme – the R4 Rural Resilience initiative – had benefited nearly 550,000 vulnerable households and families in 18 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean by 2023. At the same time, WFP is working with governments in 83 countries to boost or build national safety nets and nutrition-sensitive social protection, allowing us to reach more people with emergency food assistance.
Lack of funding risks a heavy cost
WFP faced a major drop in funding in 2023 compared to the previous year. As a result, almost half of WFP country operations have already been forced to cut the size of food, cash and nutrition assistance by up to 50 percent.
The consequences of not investing in long-term resilience could result in increased migration, destabilization and conflict. Recent history has shown us this: when WFP ran out of funds to feed Syrian refugees in 2015, they had no choice but to leave the camps and seek help elsewhere, causing one of the greatest refugee crises in recent European history.
Unless resources are made available to end the global food crisis, lost lives and the reversal of hard-earned development gains will be the price to pay.