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Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (May25/08) Penang, 19 May (Kanaga Raja) — In 2024, 295.3 million people across 53 countries and territories faced high levels of acute food insecurity, an increase of 13.7 million from 2023, and marking the sixth consecutive annual increase, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC). More alarmingly, the report said the number of people facing catastrophic hunger (IPC/CH Phase 5) more than doubled over the same period to reach 1.9 million – the highest on record since the GRFC began tracking in 2016. The report found that conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, and forced displacement continued to drive food insecurity and malnutrition around the world, with catastrophic impacts on many already fragile regions. Malnutrition, particularly among children, reached extremely high levels, including in the Gaza Strip, Mali, Sudan, and Yemen, said the report, adding that nearly 38 million children under five were acutely malnourished across 26 nutrition crises. The report further pointed to a sharp increase in hunger driven by forced displacement, with nearly 95 million forcibly displaced people – including internally displaced persons (IDPs), asylum seekers and refugees – living in countries facing food crises such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Sudan, and Syria, out of a global total of 128 million forcibly displaced people. According to the GRFC, published by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) with analysis from the Food Security Information Network (FSIN), hunger shocks will likely persist into 2025, as it anticipates the most significant reduction in humanitarian funding for food and nutrition crises in the report’s history. Some 231.2 million people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity in 37 countries/territories in 2025, corresponding to 21.5 percent of the analysed population, based on data available by 12 May 2025, it said. “This Global Report on Food Crises is another unflinching indictment of a world dangerously off course,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Long-standing crises are now being compounded by another, more recent one: the dramatic reduction in life-saving humanitarian funding to respond to these needs.” “This is more than a failure of systems – it is a failure of humanity. Hunger in the 21st century is indefensible. We cannot respond to empty stomachs with empty hands and turned backs,” said Guterres. Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), said: “Like every other humanitarian organization, WFP is facing deep budget shortfalls which have forced drastic cuts to our food assistance programs. Millions of hungry people have lost, or will soon lose, the critical lifeline we provide. We have tried and tested solutions to hunger and food insecurity. But we need the support of our donors and partners to implement them.” Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said: “In a world of plenty, there is no excuse for children to go hungry or die of malnutrition. Hunger gnaws at the stomach of a child. It gnaws, too, at their dignity, their sense of safety, and their future. How can we continue to stand by when there is more than enough food to feed every hungry child in the world? How can we ignore what is happening in front of our eyes? Millions of children’s lives hang in the balance as funding is slashed to critical nutrition services.” GLOBAL OVERVIEW According to the report, a joint initiative of several UN agencies and their partner organizations, the number of people in need of urgent food and livelihood assistance rose by almost 5 percent, or 13.7 million people, from 281.6 million in 59 countries/territories in 2023 to 295.3 million in 53 countries/territories in 2024. In East Africa, in the Sudan, an additional 5.3 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, bringing the total to 25.6 million, or 54 percent of its population, largely due to the impacts of the devastating conflict, the report said. It had the highest number of people facing Emergency (IPC Phase 4), at over 8 million, and the second highest in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5), at 0.8 million. The report said while the food crises in Ethiopia and Uganda’s Karamoja region also worsened, in Kenya, food security improved markedly due to better climatic conditions that improved food production. It said in West Africa and the Sahel, in Nigeria, an additional 6.9 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, bringing the total to 31.8 million, due to a resurgence and expansion of conflicts, high inflation and increased analysis coverage. “Chad saw a 47 percent increase in the number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity linked to conflict-related population displacement, flooding and high food prices, while high inflation drove an increase in Sierra Leone.” In Asia, the number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity in Myanmar increased by 3.7 million to reach 14.4 million due to intensifying conflict and severe flooding and landslides, said the report. Although the number decreased by 4.1 million in Afghanistan, attributable to humanitarian food and agriculture assistance, good harvests and reduced inflation, 15.8 million people still faced Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above), it added. In Southern Africa, El Nino-induced drought, macroeconomic instability and limited livelihood opportunities drove sharp increases in Zimbabwe and Malawi, with 1.5 million and 1.3 million more people facing high levels of acute food insecurity in the two countries, respectively. Almost 2 million people in five countries/territories were estimated or projected to be in Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) in 2024 – the highest number since GRFC reporting began, and more than double the number of 2023, said the report. It said that in this phase of acute food insecurity, urgent and immediate action, including large-scale and multi-sectoral response and protected humanitarian access is needed to prevent further death and prevent/reverse total collapse of livelihoods. In the Sudan, the population facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) increased from zero in 2023 to 755,300 in 2024. The report said that this deterioration underscores how rapidly conflict can drive acute food insecurity to reach famine levels, unprecedented in the history of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and GRFC for this country. Around 79,000 people were estimated to be in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) in South Sudan during the April-July 2024 lean season in Jonglei and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states. Some 28,000 of them were returnees from the Sudan. This number was up from the 43,000 reported in the same period in 2023, it added. In Haiti, around 5,600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince were estimated to be facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) between August 2024 and February 2025, up from none in 2023. It said that the resurgence of civil insecurity at the beginning of 2024 contributed to a major deterioration in the humanitarian situation, causing extensive displacement. Around 2,600 people were projected to face Catastrophe (CH Phase 5) in the Menaka region of Mali in June-August 2024, mostly due to heightened insecurity significantly constraining humanitarian access. The GRFC said over 35.1 million people in 36 countries/territories experienced Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4) in 2024. It said populations in this phase need large-scale and urgent action to reduce food consumption gaps and prevent livelihood collapse, starvation and further acute malnutrition and death. The GRFC said in 2024, 3.5 percent of the analysed population in 40 countries/territories were in this phase. “Palestine (Gaza Strip) had by far the highest share of its population (38 percent) in IPC Phase 4, followed by South Sudan (19 percent), the Sudan (18 percent) and Haiti (18 percent).” While the total number of people in this phase was lower than in 2023 (-1 .3 million), some countries/territories faced increases, the report noted. In the Sudan, which already had the largest number of people in IPC Phase 4 in 2023, the number increased by more than 2 million people, while in Chad, the population in CH Phase 4 more than doubled, it said. Meanwhile, Kenya saw the most significant improvement, with the number of people in this phase decreasing from 1.2 million in 2023 to fewer than 0.3 million in 2024. Afghanistan had around 2.5 million fewer people in this phase, almost half that of 2023. Around 190 million people in 40 countries/territories experienced Crisis (IPC/CH Phase 3) in 2024, the report said. Populations in this phase also require urgent action to protect livelihoods and reduce food consumption gaps. In 2024, 190 million people faced IPC/CH Phase 3, corresponding to 19 percent of the population analysed in these 40 countries. The prevalence was marginally higher than in 2023 (18 percent). In Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bangladesh, nearly all the people who faced high levels of acute food insecurity were in IPC/CH Phase 3, said the GRFC. More than 30 percent of the analysed population of Central African Republic, Haiti, Namibia, South Sudan, the Sudan, Yemen (Government of Yemen (GoY)-controlled areas) and Zambia were in IPC Phase 3. The GRFC also said around 344.7 million people in 39 countries experienced Stressed (IPC/CH Phase 2) in 2024. Populations in this phase are vulnerable to shocks and require support to reduce risks related to disasters and to protect their livelihoods, it explained. The share of analysed population in IPC/CH Phase 2 increased from 32 percent in 2023 to 35 percent in 2024. This represents a deterioration as it occurred in parallel with a reduction in the share of analysed population in IPC/CH Phase 1 – from 46 percent in 2023 to 41 percent in 2024, said the report. Among the countries with larger populations in IPC/CH Phase 2, Nigeria had almost 83 million people, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 51 million and Bangladesh with over 33 million. Out of the 40 countries/territories with available disaggregated data, 32 countries had more than a quarter of their analysed population in this phase, marking a deterioration from 2023, when this was the case in 28 countries, the GRFC said. The ten countries with the largest number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity each had more than 9 million in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent in 2024, it pointed out. The ten countries are Nigeria, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Syrian Arab Republic, according to the report. The GRFC said they accounted for more than 196 million people or 66 percent of the overall number of 295.3 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity in the 53 countries/territories with data meeting GRFC technical requirements in 2024. Nigeria, the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo had the largest populations in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above. The three of them accounted for more than a quarter (28 percent) of the aggregate number. Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen have consistently been among the countries with the largest numbers since 2016, the report noted. Among the 53 countries/territories with data meeting GRFC technical requirements, 37 had over 1 million people in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent, it said. DRIVERS OF FOOD CRISIS According to the report, in 2024, the predominant drivers of acute food insecurity were the intensification of the conflicts in Palestine (Gaza Strip), the Sudan, Lebanon, Myanmar and Nigeria, and the climatic shock of El Nino, especially in Southern Africa. Conflict/insecurity was the primary driver in 20 countries/territories where 139.8 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, it said. “Conflict/insecurity remained the primary driver in 17 of the same countries/territories as 2023. It became the main driver in Colombia, Lebanon and Togo.” Four of the ten largest food crises in terms of magnitude (Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan and Myanmar) and four of the ten largest in terms of prevalence (the Sudan, Palestine (Gaza Strip), Haiti and the Central African Republic) were primarily driven by conflict/insecurity, it added. Although South Sudan had economic shocks as the primary driver, conflict in the Sudan was the main driver for 31,000 returnees facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) levels of acute food insecurity, it underlined. Out of the 35.1 million people in Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4), 20.1 million were in countries/territories where conflict was the primary driver, said the GRFC. Thirteen of the 20 primarily conflict-driven food crises were in the Middle East, and West Africa and the Sahel. The report said conflict is a devastating driver of acute food security, with significant impacts on households’ capacities to produce and/or access food. “Around one in eight people around the world were estimated to have been exposed to conflict in 2024, with a 25 percent increase in political violence incidents recorded between the start and end of the year.” The vast majority of the 50 countries with the highest conflict index ranking were low-income and lower-middle- income countries, and 39 of them were among the 65 selected for the 2025 GRFC, it added. Myanmar, one of the countries with the worst food crises in 2024, faced widespread conflict with an average of 170 non-state armed groups (NSAGs) active each week, while Ukraine remained the deadliest conflict in terms of number of fatalities, said the report. However, it said when looking at displacement and acute food insecurity figures, the conflict in the Sudan was the most devastating. More than 12.3 million Sudanese – over a third of the pre-conflict population – were internally displaced or had crossed borders to seek refuge or to return to their places of origin by the end of 2024, with profound impacts on households’ ability to access and produce food, it added. In Haiti, gangs have seized control of much of the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area and several other regions, disrupting livelihoods, markets and access to food, it noted. In 2024 alone, violence involving gangs killed more than 4,500 people, displaced 700,000 and left almost half of Haitians facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Weather extremes were the primary driver in 18 countries where 96.1 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the GRFC. While the same number of countries had weather extremes as the primary driver as in 2023, their extent and impact increased significantly during 2024, with an additional 24.2 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity, it said. “Weather extremes were considered the secondary or tertiary driver in another 29 countries with food crises.” In 2024, 96.1 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 18 countries where weather extremes were the primary driver. In 12 of these countries, 7.3 million people faced IPC/CH Phase 4. The report said average air temperatures over land hit an all-time high in 2024, boosted by a warming El Nino event, reaching 1.2 degrees C above the 1995-2005 average. Thirty-four countries set new maximum temperature records. In 2024, precipitation extremes also increased. Water-related disasters caused extensive damage, with climate change contributing to increased severity of floods, droughts and cyclones, it added. Asia experienced a strong monsoon and Cyclone Yagi, which affected a number of countries in Southeast Asia in September 2024 including Myanmar, was the strongest to strike the region in decades. The El Nino event, which reached its peak intensity in late 2023 through to mid-2024, drove many of the weather extremes in 2024, bringing hotter and drier-than-normal conditions across many regions, the GRFC noted. “In Southern Africa, the 2023-2024 El Nino-induced drought led to widespread harvest failure and livestock deaths.” Over large parts of Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, a long and extensive dry spell affected crops at the time when moisture was most critical for plant development, said the GRFC. Economic shocks were the primary driver in 15 countries where 59.4 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, it further said. Compared with 2023, this marks a decrease from 21 countries where 75.2 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, although still more than double the number of people in 2019 before the economic impacts of COVID-19, it added. In 2024, 59.4 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 15 countries where economic shocks were the primary driver. In 11 of them, 7.8 million people faced IPC/CH Phase 4, and 79,000 people were in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) in South Sudan, said the report, noting that some of them were returnees from the Sudan and primarily affected by the conflict there. It said economic shocks were considered the secondary driver in 25 countries/territories and the tertiary driver in 7 countries/territories. In 2024, global economic growth was weak by historical standards and well below the 3.1 percent average in the decade before COVID-19, the GRFC noted. Growth prospects for 2025, even before the turmoil of the early months of the year, had been deemed insufficient to offset the damage done to the global economy by years of successive negative shocks, it said. Despite monthly increases for most of 2024, primarily driven by dairy, meat and vegetable oil prices, the FAO Food Price Index in 2024 was below 2023 levels but higher than pre-COVID-19 levels, it added. It said disruptions to production and shipping of commodities, especially oil, as well as conflicts, civil unrest and extreme weather events led to downward revisions to the economic outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia and for sub-Saharan Africa. +
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