TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Apr23/02)
12 April 2023
Third World Network

UN: Hunger on the rise in Arab region since 2014, says report
Published in SUNS #9762 dated 12 April 2023

Penang, 11 Apr (Kanaga Raja) — Hunger has continued to rise in the Arab region since 2014, with the number of undernourished people reaching 54.3 million in 2021, or 12.2 percent of the population.

This is one of the main findings of a report produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD),the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

According to the United Nations report, the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the region in 2020, led to a surge in hunger across the region, affecting regional sub-groups of all income levels, and conflict-affected as well as non- conflict-affected countries.

Moderate or severe food insecurity has also been rising since 2014, affecting an estimated 154.3 million people in 2021, up from 142.7 million in 2020 – an increase of 11.6 million, said the report.

“Hence, in 2021, an estimated 34.7 percent of the region’s population was moderately or severely food insecure and deprived of regular access to sufficient and nutritious food.”

In 2021, an estimated 53.9 million people suffered from severe food insecurity, which is another measure that approximates hunger. This is an increase of 5 million people from the previous year, it added.

Recent trends in hunger and food insecurity suggest that the region is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger, or Sustainable Development Goal 2, by 2030, said the report.

HUNGER ON THE RISE

According to the UN report, hunger has been on the rise in the Arab States since 2014, wiping out progress made since 2000.

The prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) was 12.2 percent in 2021, close to its 2001 level, and higher than the global average of 9.8 percent, it said.

It said the region is facing multifaceted challenges such as the impact of climate change, prolonged conflicts and natural disasters, all of which are contributing to the prevalence of under-nutrition.

“The number of undernourished people increased by 55 percent between 2010 and 2021, reaching 54.3 million.”

It said that this is also 3.2 million people more than in 2020, which is a result of the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the region’s economy and people’s livelihoods.

By sub-group, the PoU is highest in low-income countries, coming up to 28.9 percent, and lowest in high-income countries, accounting for 4.3 percent, it added.

“The PoU in upper-middle-income countries is higher than in lower-income ones due to the effects of prolonged conflicts in many countries within the group.”

In 2021, the PoU in conflict-affected countries was 23.9 percent compared to 5.8 percent in non-conflict-affected countries.

The number of undernourished people in the Arab region reached 54.3 million in 2021, up by 48.3 percent from 36.6 million in 2000, said the report.

The number of undernourished people has risen by 3.2 million from 2020, with the yearly increases occurring in low- and lower-middle-income country groups, Arab States least developed countries (LDCs), conflict-affected and non-conflict-affected countries of the region, it added.

The numbers have shown moderate year-on-year declines in 2021 in the upper-middle- and high-income country groups, the report noted.

“Low-income economies had 31 million undernourished people, upper-middle-income economies 11.2 million, lower-middle-income economies 9.6 million and high-income economies 2.6 million.”

The number of undernourished people in conflict-affected countries was 37.8 million, which is more than double that of non-conflict-affected countries (16.5 million people), and the region accounted for 7 percent of the global total of 767.9 million in 2021.

The report said that the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the Arab region was 34.7 percent in 2021, showing an upward trend for the third year in a row, and higher than the global average of 29.3 percent.

In 2021, Arab States LDCs displayed the highest prevalence of food insecurity, at 51.2 percent, it added.

By country income groups, it said the highest prevalence of severe or moderate food insecurity, 48.2 percent, was recorded in low-income countries, while high-income countries had the lowest prevalence at 17.3 percent.

“The prevalence of food insecurity has been trending upwards in conflict-affected countries since 2014, and in non-conflict-affected countries since 2019.”

In 2021, the indicator reached the level of 46.1 percent in conflict-affected countries and 28.4 percent in non- conflict-affected countries, said the report.

The number of moderately or severely food insecure people was equivalent to 154.3 million, of which 53.9 million were severely food insecure, and this number has been rising since 2014, said the report.

Severe food insecurity affected 12.1 percent of the people in the Arab region in 2021, up from 11.4 percent in 2014, it added.

The report said that the highest levels of 18.2 percent were observed in low-income countries and the lowest in high-income countries, at 6 percent.

Overall, it said the prevalence of severe food insecurity in the region has been increasing steadily since 2019.

The report said the highest prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity was in the Comoros, at 79.7 percent, and Somalia, at 77.4 percent.

In contrast, the lowest prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity, 7.5 percent, was recorded in the United Arab Emirates, a high-income country.

In 2021, 48.2 percent of people in low-income countries faced severe or moderate food insecurity, compared to 42.1 percent in upper-middle-income countries, 30.2 percent in lower-middle-income countries and 17.3 percent in high-income countries, it added.

“In contrast, severe food insecurity affected 12.1 percent of the people in the Arab region in 2021, up from 11.4 percent in 2014: 18.2 percent in low-income countries, 17 percent in upper-middle-income countries, 9.2 percent in lower-middle-income countries and 6 percent in high-income countries.”

In 2019-2021, the highest prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity was recorded in LDCs such as the Comoros (79.7 percent), Somalia (77.4 percent) and the Sudan (50.7 percent), whereas the prevalence was lowest in the United Arab Emirates (7.5 percent), a high-income country, said the report.

An estimated 154.3 million people in the Arab region experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2021, up by 34.5 million or 29 percent from 2014, it added.

Lower-middle-income countries had 63.5 million moderately or severely food insecure people, compared to 53 million in low-income countries, 27.5 million in upper-middle-income countries and 10.3 million in high-income countries.

It said between 2014 and 2021, numbers have increased across all country income groups, with the exception of the high-income country group, which saw a decline of 1 million.

The number of moderately or severely food insecure people has increased since 2014 both in conflict-affected and non-conflict-affected Arab States, mainly due to expanding populations coupled with limited agricultural production and food access, it added.

In the region as a whole, the number of moderately or severely food insecure people represents 6.7 percent of the global estimates.

An estimated 53.9 million people in the Arab region experienced severe food insecurity in 2021, an increase of 9.8 million, or 22.2 percent from 2014.

The report said low-income countries had 20 million severely food insecure people, compared with 19.2 million in lower-middle-income countries, 11.1 million in upper-middle-income countries and 3.6 million in high-income countries.

“Both conflict-affected as well as non-conflict-affected Arab countries have seen increases in the number of severely food insecure people.”

In 2021, 28.2 million people were food insecure in conflict-affected countries, compared to 25.7 million in non- conflict-affected countries, said the report.

NUTRITION INDICATORS

According to the UN report, the Arab region continued to suffer from multiple forms of malnutrition.

It said that the prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years in the Arab region was 20.5 percent in 2020, down from 28.7 percent in 2000.

By level of income, low-income countries are the most affected, with a prevalence of 32.9 percent, followed by lower-middle-income countries (17.3 percent), upper-middle-income countries (13.5 percent) and high-income countries (5.1 percent).

It said conflict-affected countries had a high prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years (27.8 percent) compared to non-conflict-affected countries (15.2 percent).

The report said in 2020, stunting was a very serious public health issue (greater than 30 percent) in four Arab countries, including Djibouti, Libya, the Sudan and Yemen.

Five other countries such as the Comoros, Egypt, Mauritania, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic had high levels of stunting, while in the remaining Arab countries, prevalence of stunting was a low or medium public health issue.

Libya exhibited the highest rate of stunting in the region, equivalent to 43.5 percent, said the report.

The share of children under 5 years affected by wasting in the Arab region was 7.8 percent in 2020, which is higher than the global average of 6.7 percent, it also said.

Across the varying levels of income, wasting affects 16.3 percent of children in low-income countries, indicating a very high prevalence, it added.

“This is, surprisingly, followed by high-income countries with 6.7 percent,” the report said.

The lower-middle-income countries (6.6 percent) and upper-middle-income countries (3.8 percent) follow this trend.

In conflict-affected Arab countries, wasting was a high public health problem with a prevalence of 10.2 percent.

“In non-conflict countries, 6.6 percent of children under 5 years were wasted, which is a medium public health issue,” said the report.

The most recent country-level data show a very high prevalence of wasting in Djibouti (21.5 percent), the Sudan (16.3 percent) and Yemen (16.4 percent), all three being LDCs, it added.

The other three LDCs, the Comoros, Mauritania and Somalia, had high levels of wasting. A very low prevalence (less than 2.5 percent) of wasting was found in Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia.

In the Arab region, 10.7 percent of children under 5 years were overweight in 2020, up from 9.4 percent in 2000, said the report, adding that this is higher than the global average of 5.7 percent.

By level of income, lower-middle-income countries have very high levels of childhood overweight, at 15 percent.

This is followed by 10.9 percent in upper-middle-income countries, 7.4 percent in high-income countries and 4.7 percent in low-income countries, it added.

The prevalence of overweight is high among children under 5 in non-conflict-affected countries (13.8 percent) compared to conflict-affected countries (6.4 percent).

The prevalence of overweight is a public health problem of great concern in five countries of the region: Egypt (17.8 percent), Lebanon (19.7 percent), Libya (25.4 percent), the Syrian Arab Republic (18.2 percent) and Tunisia (16.5 percent), said the report.

In contrast, it said only five countries in the region displayed a low prevalence of childhood overweight (less than 5 percent), including Oman, a high-income country, and four LDCs: Mauritania, Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen.

It also said that the prevalence of anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 years in the Arab region was estimated at 33.2 percent in 2019, 4.9 percentage points lower than in 2000.

The report said this is higher than the global average of 29.9 percent.

“The prevalence of anaemia is highest in low-income countries, with 43.8 percent, followed by 30.3 percent in lower-middle-income countries, 30.2 percent in upper-middle-income countries and 27.1 percent in high-income countries.”

In 2019, anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years was a severe public health problem in low-income countries such as Mauritania, Somalia and Yemen, as the prevalence was higher than 40 percent. Yemen displayed the highest prevalence of anaemia in the region with 61.5 percent, said the report.

It also said obesity among adults of 18 years and above increased in the Arab region, from 19.5 percent in 2000 to 28.8 percent in 2016, adding that the latest estimate is more than double the global average of 13.1 percent.

All groups, by income or conflict categories, experienced increasing trends in adult obesity during this period.

The report said high-income countries had the highest prevalence of adult obesity, with 34 percent, followed by upper-middle-income countries (31.7 percent), lower-middle-income countries (29 percent) and low-income countries (18.8 percent).

“The prevalence of adult obesity is higher in non-conflict-affected countries (30.4 percent) compared to conflict- affected countries (24.1 percent).”

Based on the latest estimates, adult obesity rates were over 30 percent in nine Arab States (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), said the report.

Kuwait exhibited the highest prevalence of 37.4 percent whereas the Comoros and Somalia had the lowest (7.8 and 8.3 percent, respectively).

The prevalence of low birth weight in the Arab region was 11.6 percent in 2015, said the report, adding that this is lower than the global average of 14.6 percent.

The prevalence of low birth weight is the highest in low-income countries, with 13.5 percent, followed by 11.4 percent in lower-middle-income countries, 9.9 percent in upper-middle-income countries and 9.1 percent in high- income countries, it added.

It also said more than half the population in the Arab States, or 162.7 million people, could not afford a healthy diet in 2020.

The cost of a healthy diet in the Arab region has been increasing each year since 2017, reaching $3.47 per person per day in 2020, it added. +